The Outcasts
by Mei Evelyn
Summary: Little Luffy was abducted by pirates in the middle of his search for his new friend. When the said friend found out, she went to the sea, intending to save him. She stood no chance against the pirate, being thrown overboard helplessly. Ace, feeling disoriented with his own feeling, was on his way. Would Ace accept the girl's presence?/Cover pic's not mine./RnR?/ON HOLD (REWRITTEN)
1. Chapter 1: The Storm (Prolog)

**"The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

Summary: Their existences might bring huge impact for the world to come, so they were cast out. Loneliness, rage, chained, hurt./ A story where the D brothers found an injured girl after a storm. While Ace was sure the girl was mute, Luffy was determine to get the girl to smile. Shocking event unfolded, dark past rolled in, new bond was formed, headache ensued. /

* * *

Ch. 1: The Storm (Prolog)

The storm was raging, bringing in winds and rain and the scent of sea salt into a rather small island in East Blue. People who lived in the city were asleep soundly in their own bed, being able to comfortably ignore the mad storm outside their mighty mansion. The Royal Palace of Goa Kingdom was in peaceful state, contrast with the rumbling sound of heavy rain, soldiers in shift were scattering around the castle, standing tall with weapons on them. The city was asleep, deep in slumber of the night, simply waiting for the next calm morning to greet their vanity.

Not quite so in a certain mountain bandits' hut far within the forest of Mt. Colubo. Bandits were running around, busy pestering some holes in wall that graciously gave them winds and water of the rain, littering their stuff around the house. The wooden hut seemed like it would be blasted away in no time. But well, let's say a strong will from a certain orange-haired woman had the hut stay on earth. I will not explain how that was possible, because the author had no idea.

"Dogra! Magra! Fix the damages on my room!"

"But Okashira, we are fixing the roof now! It will be flying any seconds!"

"Huh? What's that excuse! Leave that! My room's in danger more than the roof!"

"Eeeehh?"

"What're you doing? Get to it now!"

"Ye-yes, Okashira!"

"Hey, you! What are you doing on the floor?"

"I'm picking up our stuff, Okashira. They are littering the floor."

"Stop doing that, you stupid head! Go fix the roof instead!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"You! Yes, you! Why are you standing still like an idiot, huh?"

"I-i-i'm af-raid of s-s-storm, Okas-s-shira."

"The hell! You're bandit, moron! Bandits don't get scared of storm! Do something, shit!"

"Eek! Okashira is s-scary!"

"All bandits have to get up to your feet! No doing dothing, brats! We're gonna keep the house safe!"

"Okashira is not doing anything useful though."

"Shut up, asshole! I'm instructing you now! Quit complaining and do my words!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

A thick mark was seen on Dadan's bandaged forehead, sweats on her scalp as result of yelling the whole time. The bandits were helpless without her that was for sure. She had to stand as their leader in hard times like this. She was breathing heavily, gasping for air to fill her burning lungs despite the cold storm.

"Dadan! Dadan! I'm scared! We're gonna die!"

Dadan looked down at her feet. There was Luffy, hugging her leg for his life, crying in despair with hoarse voice due to being crying along with the rain. Oh, she had forgotten the kid, since it was hectic with the fool bandits, she actually ignored the seven (soon to be eight) year old boy.

"Luffy! Stop crying, dammit! What a crybaby!"

It was Ace shouting from near the loose door, effectively shutting Luffy's wailing. He was currently holding onto the door in case of it would be blown away by the strong wind. Hell, he would make sure he won against the wind. Childish pride set aside, the fact that a tiny hole was enough damage for the night, so no need a blaring front house to complete their suffering.

Luffy was biting his bottom lip as to hold in his cry, his entire body was quivering from the icy sharp feeling the storm had on him. But it was not long before he was dripping more tears with scream filled with pure dread.

"Hwaaa! Huaa! Hicc!" he hiccupped. Second thick mark was forming in Dadan's head. She gritted her teeth to contain herself from blurting out some foul words. If it wasn't because Luffy being Garp's grandson, she would had thrown the handful boy into the jungle.

However, the boy seemed to be crying louder than ever, and she had gotten enough.

 _Thud!_ Her fist unconsciously hit Luffy's head, hard enough to produce sound from the receiving end, a bump was forming its way on his small head.

"That's hurt, damn you old hag! Why'd you do that?!"

"You are being loud, Luffy! Shut up or I'll kick you out! And don't call me that, brat!"

"Damn you old bandit! Fight me!"

 _Thud! Thud!_ Two fists found their way to create new bumps on Luffy's head as Dadan along with Ace yelled with sharp shark-like teeth, "Shut up, Luffy!"

"Aww! Hurts! You jerk! Meanie!" the voice sounded displeased while protecting his head with his small hands, despite having the bump already planted on him.

Dadan and Ace were standing beside of Luffy, still catching their breath from the messy situation they were in. The door was currently occupied by two bandits who were trying to patch the door as to strengthen its poor condition.

Tonight was one of the worst storms ever hit the Dawn Island. The whole island was covered by strong spinning winds, taking away what was not strong enough to stay on ground. The signs of storm were being left on every corner and surface.

The impression the storm left were different from each place. The city where most nobles and the King stayed was in complete indifference to the storm, because even though the city was fillled with signs of it, as long as there would be people whom they could order to clean the city to spark, for them it was no big deal at all.

The Foosha villagers were quite in worry, especially the Mayor, who was responsible for the safety of the small village. Fortunately the simple buildings were rooted strong enough to stand although not so firm against the blasting winds. Most likely the villagers would be shocked by the next morning when they found out the buildings were a bit aslant than the evening before.

The Gray Terminal however was in huge disaster. Garbage and dust were flying everywhere, no patched-house could stay on earth long enough, metal stuff were scratching people with its sharp edge, and Gray Terminal was just turned from messy disorder into pure disaster. It was worse with the inhabitants. They were trying to hold onto something, _everything_ , in order to keep their feet on earth, but failed miserably. Any flying stuff would hit and slam and scratch their skin to bleed, loosing their grip and seizing their hope as result. Many had fallen, and few that still fighting was already dimmed of hope.

In one lonely yet noisy hut in the forest, well, I take it you can grasp the situation just fine.

* * *

The storm was gone by the morning, sweeping away all dusts even in every smallest corner and crack. The sunlight was glinting against water drops above leaves and soil, making the impression of crystal spark of it. The light was bright and clear, like the hell they were in the night before just made a way for the coming heaven. But this was no heaven, no, this was still part of Goa Kingdom, the plant-covered area, the only peaceful place next to Foosha village, where the purest of nature stayed.

"Ace! Wait for me! Oi, Ace!"

Luffy was chasing after Ace, light grin on his round face. They were going to catch some food since they were all passed out after defending the Dadan's country all night. Their energy was completely spent. The explainable reasons of Ace being the one who went to hunt were because: 1) it was always unofficial duty of Ace to hunt for food; 2) Ace had some amount of energy left compared to the stupor bandits; 3) Ace wouldn't let a single storm to overcome him; so he just took the responsible to leave, ignoring the unspoken relief from Dadan's eyes, because hell, the whole gang wouldn't be able to lift a single finger, not until they could fill their stomach first. And Luffy, being Luffy, followed Ace into the forest, eating some fruits in the way to refill his energy, not that he lost much of it the night before, since he did nothing but cry.

Ace kept on walking, knowing fully well that Luffy would just follow like he always did, and since he was not hurrying so Luffy would not lose him in case he stopped by to pick some fruits. He walked for few minutes until he realized that the small footsteps that supposed to echo into his ear was not there for the longest time. He turned around and found no Luffy behind.

"That stupid kid. Where did he go again?" he wondered out loud, annoyed to say the least. He decided to walk back to his track, thinking that Luffy might still be somewhere in the path. When he caught sight of his little brother, he snapped, "Oi, Luffy! What are you doing? I'll leave you behind!"

But Luffy didn't even turn his head. In fact, he was facing the dense of trees next to the forest path, his face strict with sweats, looking quite shock to whatever he was seeing there. When Ace approached him, he simply hit the back of Luffy's head with his pipe, receiving an "ack" sound from the boy.

"What's your problem, Ace?!" he yelled, sending a futile attempt of glare to his brother.

"I said I'm gonna leave you behind. Didn't you hear me at all?" Ace encountered.

Luffy's face was quickly turned sad, "No way, Ace! Don't leave me alone. Please..."

Ace regretted his words immediately, and fast to confirm, "I'm not gonna leave you, 'kay. Like I can leave someone as a crybaby like you behind. Stop looking at me like that!"

Smile of relief was shown on Luffy as he said, "Okay!" and his smile was quickly turned into a bigger grin that would split anyone's face but Luffy. Ace only let a small smile grace his lips as an immediate response of Luffy's smile he was secretly fond of.

"So, why were you staying here instead of following me?" Ace questioned.

Luffy's face snapped into realization, like he just rang a bell for something forgotten, which the case was. "Right, Ace! There, I saw something, or someone, on the ground, but I'm not sure," he explained while pointing to the direction he stared at before.

Ace turned his head to look for the right angle to see the thing Luffy pointed at. When he saw it, his blood ran cold.

* * *

 **Hello, everyone! Hajimemashite!**

 **This is my very first attempt to publish a fanfiction. I've written this one for six chapters so far, but I will upload the next chapter if anyone is interested with this story. Tell me if it's fine or stuff, because I don't know how people see my story if there's no one to tell me their thought.**

 **Just to make it clear, THIS STORY CONTAINS ORIGINAL CHARACTER, the one that will be A MAIN CHARACTER. Well, aside from Luffy that is. But I assure you, if you just wait for the story to unfold, you may or may not like it, it's up to you really. So let me now what you think.**

 **Oh, and I'm deeply apologize beforehand, since I'm not a native speaker, and I'm still learning English, if you find any grammar mistakes or error or such. I'll give my best.**

 **One last thing, if anyone wants to see the next part, please wait for another two weeks. I've decided that one week is way too fast for me (being in last year and stuff) and let you wait for more than two weeks feels like a cruel thing of me. That is _if_ _anyone_ interested by the way.**

 **That's all for starter.**

 **Dadah, fellas~! (If you recognize the word, then you are likely to know my nationality)**

 **11/20/2015**

 **02/13/2016 (edited)**

 **-Mei Evelyn**


	2. Chapter 2: The Girl in White

**"** **The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

 _In previous chapter: A huge storm hit the Goa Kingdom for the night. When all bandits passed out, Ace decided to hunt something, and Luffy, being Luffy, followed Ace into the forest. When Ace realized the small footsteps he used to hear were vacant for more than the usual, he noticed Luffy wasn't following. It turned out that Luffy just discovered something unusual, which in turn made Ace shock for a second in his spot._

Ch. 2: The Girl in White

Ace turned his head to look for the right angle to see the thing Luffy pointed at. When he saw it, his blood ran cold.

 _It_ was someone.

Lying on the ground was a small child in a white dress, and judging from the long hair and the dress he assumed that it was a girl. Not quite able to shake the weird feeling he got, he stepped forward to get a closer look. The girl was most likely unconscious.

"Oi, Ace! Wait!" he ignored Luffy and had his pace going faster by the seconds. When he finally stood just beside the unconscious girl, he let himself get clearer view of the girl. Her dress was dirty, and seemed to be torn at several places, she had a very pale complexion, her hair was long and gray ( _what a rare colour_ ) but messy at the moment, and he noticed some bruises and small cuts on her skin though not very life-threatening. Luffy was kneeling just next to the girl's head, attempting to poke her cheek just because he was curious. Ace didn't do anything whatsoever, and merely stood to watch her reaction, _if_ she could react at all.

It turned out she was able to react to the finger that poke playfully at her cheek, proved by the soft groaning and how she squinted her closed-eyes. Not knowing what to do, Ace simply waited the present to unfold. Luffy seemed eager at the reaction, as his eyes twinkle with curiosity. However the girl had a hard time to get back to her conscious state, it took several minutes for Ace to wait patiently until he got annoyed and ready to snap at the girl to _wake the damn up_. But suddenly the girl's eyes fluttered open, squinting from the sudden light and blinking her eyes to adapt to the blinding sight.

Upon seeing two faces staring down at her, the girl jumped on her feet in instant, stepping back further from the confused-boys until her back hit a tree. She took a woodstick from the ground, her body on stance of defense, and face filled with something akin to anger. Her expression did not suit the beauty she had, and even though the dress wasn't in good condition it must be a fine dress once before it stained with mud and else. Now fully standing, Ace was sure that the girl could not be older than Luffy, hinted by how tiny she was, even compared to the thin straw hat freak. Instead of running off like what Ace had expected earlier, this girl gave the vibes of strong will and determination to stand her ground. Ace was not amused any bit.

"Seriously? You wanna fight with a thin stick of wood?" Ace snorted, eyeing the now awake girl sarcastically. Luffy however had a glint of interest in his eyes, not aware of the fact that the girl just showing her intend to get away from them.

The girl scoffed, but not saying anything, her guard not going down nonetheless. It was a silent staring contest between Ace and the girl. Both child tensed, both glaring with determination not to yield.

The tension was broken when Luffy, oblivious to the quiet battle between them, decided to voice his thought, "Yo! My name's Luffy! Do you have a name? Where are you come from? You are a girl, right? How old are you? I'm seven by the way! Are you lost? Why is your hair gray? Oh, and this is Ace, he's my bro—Ackk! Why did you hit me, Ace?! It's hurt!" Ace just had to hit Luffy in the head for being annoying-as-usual-self, resulting for Luffy had teary eyes.

Ace sighed. "Shut up, Luffy. How can you expect her to answer all that at once? And you were getting nonsense," Ace said. Realization hit Luffy, and he grinned.

"Right, Ace. Hey, sorry for earlier. Shishishi," Luffy said as he gave his wide grin to the girl, who just looked confused by the turn of event. Sure she never had expected to meet a boy that just greet her without being scare much less suspicious. Her grip loosened, her expression no more fierce but instead was filled with confusion.

Ace let out more sigh. He had no idea what to do in this situation, because the girl obviously wouldn't be dangerous, but still the girl refused to let down her walls. And Luffy still had his stupid grin on, so Ace really had no clue what to do.

That was when he heard voice from behind. Makino's voice he was sure, calling them out with her delicate voice, "Ace! Luffy! What are you doing there?" The three children looked at the source of voice. Makino, in her casual outfit and a basket in one hand, waved at them from the path where Ace and Luffy had been standing before.

"Oii! Makino~! We are here!" Luffy waved both hands cheerfully in reply.

When Makino caught sight of the third kid, she was shocked for a second before ran to their direction, wanting to confirm her suspicion. She came in to their circle, but took a step closer to the girl in white. The girl had became more confuse as she inspected the girl's well being with soft yet thoughful eyes. She was caught off guard there, and unconsciously lower her wall, though she still wouln't let go of the woodstick.

"You are badly injured there. You need to be treated as soon as possible. Ace, I recall ever gave you medical-kit, right?" Makino said to the girl before turned to ask Ace. There was definitely concern in her voice, something that the girl had long forgotten.

"Yeah, it's in the Dadan's country, though. The bandits all passed out, so you wanna take it yourself. It's in Dadan's room, she keep it in her cabinet," Ace answered.

Makino laid her eyes back to the girl. "Well, can you walk on your own or is it hurt for you to walk by yourself?" she asked softly.

The girl blinked before she unexpectedly stomped her feet hard unto the ground, the woodstick still tight in one hand, and her face once again turned fierce.

Makino chuckled, inwardly laughing by the girl's act. "I take it you want to walk on your own then. Come on, the house is not far from here," she said while extending her hand toward the girl, smile etched on her beautiful face.

The girl hesitated, unsure about the hand extended at her. She glanced to see the woman's smile, turned to the boy with flat expression, to the grinning boy with straw hat on his head, and backed to the woman's smile. Seconds ticked by, and Ace just knew this girl didn't trust them any bit. Luckily Makino was a patience woman, because Ace couldn't stand the stalling, and Luffy could grin for all eternity.

Even when the girl decided to take the hand, she was shaking, and her face filled with hesitation, her eyes was one of confusion. But Makino's palm was soft and warm, feelings that eased her anxiety down. They walked side by side back to the path, and turn to a certain direction into the woods. The girl didn't pay attention to her surrounding, not even noticed that the boys were going the opposite path from them, instead overwhelmed by the people she had just met for a few minutes, overthrown her fear by how warm the hands she was holding.

When they finally arrived at the so-called Dadan's country, the first thing that greeted them inside the hut was the sprawling bandits above the floor, lying like dead men. Makino knew they must be really exhausted because of the storm, but what she didn't expect was when the girl in her hand started to shake vigorously, frozen in her spot by the door.

* * *

 **Greetings, fellow readers!**

 **Here's the second chapter of TO, hope you enjoy! There will be more confusion surrounding the girl, does anyone curious?**

 **To my first two reviewers:**

 ** _Guest: Thank you! I'm happy that it's fine for you!^^_**

 ** _Alder Niis: Thank you! I'm flattered by your words, so encouraging for me!^^_**

 **Also, big thanks for those who reads/follows/favs this story! You make my days, people!**

 **I think that's it for now. Don't hesitate to give me review, any kind of review is acceptable, unless you attacking me personally, I'll be happy to have it.**

 **I'm planning to publish another story, but I still try to convince myself :p**

 **There are some other ideas that plague my mind, but so far I don't have enough time to write it :( Don't worry, I'll try my best in writing my stories. Have this one for the time being ;)**

 **Dadah, fellas~!**

 **12/04/2015**

 **-Mei Evelyn**


	3. Chapter 3: The Fragile

**"** **The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

 _In previous chapter: Ace and Luffy met a girl in the forest, the injured and fierce kind. At one point Ace sarcasm kicked in, and Luffy broke the tension while cheerfully introduced himself and babbled nonsense in oblivious. Ace had no idea what to make out of the situation. Fortunately Makino came to his relief, approach the injured girl with concern. The young woman extended her hand to the girl, which confused the small girl. The warm of the woman's hands were something she had forgotten long time ago, and she allowed herself to be led to the bandits' hideout._

Ch. 3: The Fragile

When they finally arrived at the so-called Dadan's country, the first thing that greeted them inside the hut was the sprawling bandits above the floor, lying like dead men. Makino knew they must be really exhausted because of the storm, but what she didn't expect was when the girl in her hand started to shake vigorously, frozen in her spot by the door. Makino was instanly on alert, setting down her feet to be eye-to-eye with the trembling girl. The girl had wide eyes filled with fright, tremor shook her entire body, her breath hitched fast and short, her mouth was agape and quivering and suddenly pale, cold sweat dampened the palm Makino was currently gripping with just enough force.

 _The dead had claimed the living._

 _Bloody and breathless men were lying everywhere._

 _The odor of fresh blood stung her to the very core._

 _It was massacre. Total carnage._

 _The people she had came to love,_

 _The ones she had knew very well her entire life,_

 _All were thrown aside, all were considered waste._

 _She bit her lips hard, drawing the red fluid._

 _She loathed everything._

"Hey, hey! What's the matter?" Makino exclaimed, setting aside the panic attack she was close to have, putting down the basket she brought while at it.

The girl suddenly freed herself from Makino's grip, turning away and intending to run. However she tripped herself just after several steps, giving Makino just enough time to catch up by the girl and hold her upper arm, preventing her to escape any further. The girl had her head down, her hair shadowing her eyes and she bit her lower lip. Her body was still shaking, but it wasn't as bad as before.

Makino put her hand on the girl's armpit from behind, held her and slowly pulled the trembling girl on her own lap, hugging her firmly yet keeping her touch subtle.

"It's alright, it's alright. Nothing to be afraid about," Makino soothed the girl. She had no idea what triggered the girl's action, but she was certain that the girl was terribly afraid, from what exactly, she didn't know. Makino had suspicion that maybe it was the sight of the dead-like bandits on the floor, whether it was the bandits or the pitiful state they were in, Makino wasn't sure.

Few minutes had passed, when finally the girl calmed herself and stop trembling entirely. Makino let her go and turned her body to check the girl's condition from upfront. She was alright just fine, except from the fresh teardrops that slowly fell down her cheeks. Makino brought her hand up to wipe away the tears, just to be replaced with new drops. Makino saw the darkness in her black eyes that shouldn't be exist in such young age. So she did what she could to comfort the girl, pulling her close and embracing the little girl. She could feel the girl still crying from the wetness on her shoulder.

Just several minutes back in the forest the girl had fire on her eyes and obviously distrust problem. But here she found the girl so fragile and broken, silently sobbing out her little bit of pain on Makino's shoulder.

"There's nothing to be afraid about. The bandits are just tired from the storm last night. And even though they are bandits, they are actually nice people. They won't hurt you, I promise," Makino said softly. The girl pulled away to face Makino, but she kept the girl on her embrace. Her eyes filled with something unreadable, but Makino could detect the silent question inside her head. Makino smiled, "I promise you no one will hurt you here. Do you feel alright now?"

The girl slowly nodded. Makino stood up and once again held the girl's hand on her own. Stepping a few steps forward, but then she noticed the girl clutched tight to her long skirt, still afraid apparently. Makino quietly sighed, she held the girl up, and decided that carrying her up would be better than letting her walk for the time being. She stepped into the hut, took up the basket she had placed down from the floor before, and easily went into a specific room. Inside the room there was a fat orange-haired woman lying above the floor, completely beaten just like the other bandits.

"Good morning, Dadan-san," she greeted the woman. When she received no answer nor recognition, she put down her basket near the bandits' boss, and went into the only cabinet in the room. She opened it and found the medical-kit she had gave them several months ago. She took it out and placed both the girl and the white box down on the floor since there were no table in the room.

"I'm going to treat you, okay? Just tell me if you feel uncomfortable or feel pain when I applied the treatment. Okay?" Makino said, in which she got a nod in return.

* * *

It was an hour later that Ace and Luffy came back to the house, bringing an average wild boar with them. Ace went all grumpy, since it seemed like all animals in the forest had taken a shelter when the storm hit, and somehow didn't want to come out of their comfort zone. To find the wild boar on their way back could be considered as utter luck. They almost went back with empty hand, and Ace knew how lifeless the bandits would be with no food at all.

Luckily they now had the food, still raw but definitely would become food once they reach the house. But Ace was still pissed-off nonetheless.

"Dammit! Why are they hiding in time like this?! The storm had passed! Apparently they only have big body but afraid of storm! Seriously, we really need to make up some trap rather than always hunting like usual, might be useful for emergency and can be a bonus when we still hunt," Ace said, walking in front of Luffy and holding up the heavier part of the boar all the while.

"That's good idea, Ace! I like bonus! It means more meat!" Luffy voiced his thought, loving the idea of more meat in their—his brother's plan.

"Of course, Luffy! Then that's it! It's decided that we will put up a trap in the forest, so we'll never run out of food!" Ace said.

"Yatta! More meat! More meat! Shishishi!" Luffy beamed with joy.

Luffy kept saying his merry chant until the bandit's hideout appeared on their sight. They had to take the boar around the house, since they would need to slice the boar first before taking in the meats inside the house to be cooked. But it was when they were in front of the house, that they heard a chilling scream piercing through the wind, coming from inside the house.

* * *

 **Hello, people! *Bow deeply***

 **It was suppose to be updated two days ago, but these few days I've been extremely busy, so yeah... I apologize *bow deeper***

 **You know what, only one sim card provider in my country that can access ff net, it sucks... *sigh***

 **Once again, I'm sorry, this time for the short chapter. But next chapter will be longer, twice this one. It is written, so no worry.**

 **But, seriously, I'm very busy nowadays, especially since final exams are approaching... At least this story has 7 chapters written so far, so you might consider it save for the next 8 weeks/2 months.**

 **I'm so thankful for everyone who reads/follows/favs this story, I'm really glad! And thanks for the Guest reviewer, here is more chapter~ Feel free to give me review okay.**

 **P.S: Is everyone having a vacation now? Bless you, because we're having school in my place, because a goddamn smog that happen for months some time before. We only have 2 days, 24 and 25, for holidays. Enough self pity. That's it for now.**

 **Dadah, fellas~**

 **12/20/2015**

 **-Mei Evelyn**


	4. Chapter 4: The Name

**"** **The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

 _In previous chapter: Makino saw through the girl, and she noticed right away how fragile the small girl was. The girl recalled a piece of her memory of a terrible bloodshed. Makino was trying to comfort the girl, and to regain her calm. On the other hand, Ace was pissed off from the lack of food pacing around the forest. Luckily, they claimed a wild boar's life in the way home. But when they arrived, they heard a chilling scream from the house. They've never expected that._

Ch. 4: The Name

It was when they were in front of the house, that they heard a chilling scream piercing through the wind, coming from inside the house.

The first reflex that came into Ace and Luffy was to throw the dead boar aside and run into the house. Apparently it was Magra and Dogra that screamed from the doorstep to Dadan's room. Their eyes were wide and their jaws were low.

"What's wrong, Dogra, Magra?" Ace exclaimed warrily. Luffy was following close behind.

The said men were turning their heads toward the boys, their movement slow and their facial expressions were one of frantic. "O-o-ok-okash-shi-shira..." Dogra managed to stutter the word out.

Ace quickly shoved his way into the room, his dark eyes met another dark eyes. It was the girl they met in the forest before, and she was currently occupying the floor in the furthest end of the room, directly from where he stood. Her eyes were still one of fierce kind and her body language screamed awareness as she held out the same wood stick from the forest. But she had lost the gleam of anger in her expression.

Ace quirked an eyebrow. He hadn't expected that eyes to stare back at him.

"O-okashira has turned into a little girl. What happened? This is terrible. What're we gonna do?" Magra choked out.

"Is this the end of mountain bandits? What should we do now?" Dogra mumbled.

Ace was beyond annoyed. He looked back at them without moving from his spot. "Are you stupid? That girl is obviously not Dadan. Did you guys hurt your head just now?"

"But, but, but, Okashira...?" they said in unison.

Ace turned his head, eyes easily caught Dadan sprawling on the floor at the other side of the room, still deep in slumber. "She's right there. Didn't you see her when you came in at all?" he said, clearly annoyed.

Dogra and Magra took step forward, and when they saw their Boss sleeping soundly, they let out a collective sigh. Ace took the moment to stare back at the still glaring girl in front of him, his face changed ever so slightly to be more composed.

"You can let down that wood stick now. There's no harm with these bandits. They're just stupid," Ace said to the girl, which in turn made the girl loose some of her nerves. But she made sure to stay aware of her surrounding.

A blur passed Ace, reaching the girl in seconds and taking the liberty to crouch in front of her—it was Luffy. "Hi! I see Makino treated you. How's your feeling?" he said, grinning all the while.

The girl looked down, not intending to answer the question. But Luffy was persistant, so he asked again, "What's your name?"

The girl still refused to let out a single sound. Luffy kept on sprouting things while Ace watched the one-way conversation in silent. Dogra and Magra stood behind Ace, not knowing what to do.

"I see you are back, Ace. Took you long enough," Makino's voice lingered from behind them. They all turned toward her, including Luffy and the silent girl.

"Makino!"

"Makino-san!"

The woman smiled. "I had asked the other to take care of the boar you threw outside, Ace. If the meats ready, I can cook something special for you," she said.

"Ah, that's so nice of you, Makino-san," Magra shyly expressed his gratitude.

"Huh? Are the bandits up already?" Ace asked no one in particular. He glanced around the house, instead of finding bodies he found nothing but the floor. He had been wary when he heard the scream, so he ran inside without actually realizing that the floor was free of lying bandits.

"Makino-san gave us some breads earlier to fill our stomach. It wasn't enough actually, but she said that you were hunting for food so we wait for you to come," Dogra explained.

"So why is Dadan still sleeping? And why did you think that Dadan had turned into a kid?" Ace asked skeptically.

"Aa, that's because none of us is brave enough to wake up Boss if you haven't come back with food, so we just let her sleep. We don't know there's a girl inside. Who is she actually? I was surprised," Magra said, glancing to the girl's way that still having a one way conversation with the straw hat boy.

"That's my fault, really. I forgot to tell you that she's here. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Dogra-san, Magra-san," Makino said.

Dogra and Magra was flustered, quickly said, "No, no, it's alright, Makino-san. You don't need to apologize at all. We're just a bit startled."

Ace only hummed in response to them. He turned to Makino, "Where were you? We thought you were staying here with that kid," he said.

"I went back to Foosha village to catch some clothes for the girl. She needs to change. Ah, she needs bath as well. Can we borrow the bathroom for a while?" she asked the two bandits.

"Yes, of course, Makino-san. You can use it whenever you like," Dogra said.

"Thank you." She walked into the room currently occupied by two kids and one sleeping bandit, slowly stepping closer to Luffy and the girl. "Luffy, the girl needs to take a bath for awhile. How about you get to know her later?"

"Ok, Makino! Shishi," Luffy answered cheerfully.

Makino smiled in return. Then she held the girl's hand and led her into the bathroom of the house.

* * *

Luffy was curious of the new kid around. Ever since they met in the forest, the girl never let out a sound let alone spoke. Why was that? Was she a mute? That might be the most possible case, but Luffy was sure he had heard her voices before. Like when she woke up in the forest, she voiced a small groan. And when Luffy approached her in Dadan's room before, he swore he had caught her voice in the air, almost inaudible but still.

Luffy had asked Ace why did the girl refuse to talk to them, but Ace's only answer was, "She's mute, most likely. Not that bothers me at all." Luffy was not satisfied.

He remembered Makino had said once that smile is necessary for everyone, that was why he loved smiling. Makino also said that his smile could make people around him happier. Luffy knew that because everytime Makino smiled, he was happy and his face would lit up in the same joy if not much more. The girl hadn't smile even once so far, so he decided that he would make her, since Ace had no interest at her at all.

To make the plan works he needed to approach the girl in every opportunity he had. So he went to the girl's side once she was done bathing, taking the liberty to sit beside her in the spacious room, being the talkative one. The girl wore a new outfit, a knee-length girl's pants and a plain blue shirt. Makino had smiled at them, saying that she would cook the meats for them and walked into the only proper kitchen in the back of the hut.

"Yo! You must feel better by now, right? Makino treats you really nice after all. She's kind all the time, so it's nice to be around her. The bandits are nice too! Well, I hate mountain bandits to be honest, but these people are not bad people, so they won't hurt you in anyway. I can make sure of that, I live here for... hm.. several months, I think! They told me to do some chores everyday, but I never do it! Chores are suck! It's better to go with Ace. Ace and I go to everywhere we want to, we know the forest very well, we go around the Gray Terminal, and sometimes we take short trips to the City to eat yummy food in the restaurant. We also go hunting, that's cool, right! We can beat crocodile, boar, big fish, bear, we even beat a very big tiger once! Oh, and we fight too! But we do it to train, so we can be stronger and stronger and stronger, then someday we will sail out to the sea as pirates! My dream is to be a Pirate King! And this hat is my treasure from a pirate, you know. I promise to give him back when I become a great pirate! Hey, do you have a dream?" Luffy beamed at the girl with wide curious eyes.

The girl blinked slowly, taking her time to digest the question. But then she turned her head, staring at the dull floor instead. Her face was solemn, thinking what to do with the boy's sudden question. Silent streched between them, one kid still staring at the other kid intently.

The girl suddenly stared back at Luffy, eyes determined with something. She grabbed Luffy by the wrist and led him outside. Once they were outside, the girl crouched down and etched lines into the ground by a wood stick— _is that the same wood stick as before?_ Luffy didn't even realize it sooner.

After she was done, she straightened her body and looked at Luffy who was trying to decipher the lines scratched above the soil.

"Ma-mi-mi... mm..." Luffy mumbled, clearly having a hard time.

The girl however waited patiently for him. But then a voice jumped in, "Michella. That's Michella, right?"

The girl was startled and immediately turned her head toward the voice beside Luffy. The voice belonged to the older kid. It took several seconds of staring before she nodded slowly in acknowledgement.

"Cool! What're you gonna do by being one? I've never heard of it," Luffy exclaimed.

"Luffy, I don't think that's an occupation. It's her name, if I guess right," he raised one eyebrow to the girl, which he received a positive nod from her.

"Is that so? That's a nice name! Oh, I know! You should stay with us! Shishishishi," Luffy proclaimed, really happy to get to know the girl's name.

"That won't do, Luffy. She can't stay with us," Ace interjected.

"Hahh? Whyyy? It will be fun! We can teach her to fight! Right, Malala?" Luffy said, not wanting to lose, oblivious to the fact that he had mistaken the girl's name.

"But, Luffy. She... she... aaa.. You know what? I don't really care. You can stay wherever you want," Ace said, deliberately leaving the topic before it grew into a debate.

"What do you say, Malala? You'll like it here! There are many tasty animals in the forest, you will love the taste! Shishi," Luffy said in excitement.

The girl was bewildered. Someone was offering her to stay around, just because _it would be fun_. It was usually because she could be ordered for whatever purpose. But Luffy was really different. He actually proposed to befriend her in the spot. And the girl was thoroughly perplexed. She didn't even have the time to think of a response to the misspelling of her name. Not that she could give a response outright anyway.

"Sorry to disturb your time, kids, but breakfast is ready," Makino glanced in their way from the doorstep. Three pairs of black eyes turned to face her, one with loud joyful exclamation, one with a slight lit up of relief, and one with unreadable expression. She waited them to follow her suit into the dining room, which is the same room where they did most of the bandits' activities.

Above the floor were many kinds of food being served, with the meats as the main course. Unfortunately their only table used for special occasion to put all the plates was broken, so they put the plates on the floor. All bandits were gathering around the dishes, ready to jump in anytime soon as they were drooling already. But when they saw Makino walked back with the boys, they composed themselves to act cool, which actually was amusing to see how hard they tried.

Luffy grabbed Michella's wrist, sitting himself beside Makino and signaling for her to sit next to him, which she complied easily. Meanwhile Ace took a seat at the other side of Makino. Everybody was present in the moment, even Dadan already sat at the end of the line.

"Since everybody's here, you may eat now. Have a breakfast, everyone!" Makino said, smiling at the bandits' demeanor around her. It was amusing how they held themselves and even went as far as to be abnormally polite.

Once the signal had been given, all people present save for Makino and Michella, jumped in to devour the very tempting late breakfast they rarely had. Usually it was always the average cooked meats. They often found themselves missing Makino's meals when she was away. Now they had the said woman cooked for them, they gladly ate everything on sight.

Michella was mildly surprise, but it wasn't really long when a hand nudged her in the shoulder. She turned her head to see Makino smiling down at her and said, "If you don't eat now, you won't get any food later, you should notice by now."

Truth to be told, with the pace of food swallowed down, at this rate the food would be swept clean in just several minutes ahead. So she took the advice in, grab just enough food for herself to eat in silent. She wanted to eat more actually, but she couldn't with these people around her. She still felt worry being in crowd.

"Wahhh, I'm full, I'm full! Makino's foods are the best!" Luffy proclaimed, resting in the floor with full round stomach. The other bandits were sighing in content.

"Thanks, Luffy. All of you deserve a decent food once in awhile," Makino replied.

"Hey, hey, Makino. What do you think if Malala stay with us here? Don't you agree it will be fun? Right, Makino?" Luffy voiced his thought from earlier.

"Hm? Who is Malala, Luffy?" Makino asked.

Ace chirped in from where he was laying, "It's Michella, that girl's name."

"Yup!" Luffy nodded enthusiastically.

"Ahh, so it's Michella? What a pretty name. Do you live in the city?" Makino asked the girl. She put aside her curiosity as to how the boys got the girl's name in the first place.

The girl gave a shake of the head to express that she didn't.

"What about your family, then?" Makino carefully asked again.

Michella went tense at the mention of family, and she slowly shook her head. Makino had guessed so, considering the girl's actions so far.

"Well, what do you think, Dadan-san?" on the other hand Dadan was currently busy clearing her teeth with a toothpick. When her name was mentioned by none other than Makino, she quickly stopped and threw the toothpick away.

"Ah, aa..., what was it again, Makino? I'm sorry I didn't pay attention," Dadan quickly said.

"It's not a big deal, Dadan-san. You see, this girl over here is Michella. Ace and Luffy found her in the forest this morning and I brought her here. Apparently she's alone and she's not from here. Luffy seemed eager to have the girl stay here, but it's your place to decide. If you can't take her in, then I will take care of her," Makino explained.

"Ahh, so there's a new kid around, huh? Uhh, well, as long as you do your chores and be a good kid unlike the boys, you may stay. But are you sure to leave her, Makino? It's rough living in this mountain surrounded by thick forest. It's likely better you bring her to the village, right? It's safer there," Dadan said. So far the little girl didn't break out a mess, and she seemed to be the quite type, so maybe Dadan could handle her, but still, two brats were enough for a lifetime.

"Don't wanna! Malala is my friend! I can protect her, and we can teach her to fight on her own. So it's fine for her to stay!" Luffy said, stubbornly forcing his will while struggling to get up on his feet.

Makino chuckled, "Will you really protect her, Luffy?"

"Of course I will! I'm a man after all!" he said while he stood funnily with his round stomach.

"Will you promise me then?"

"I promise I'll protect her!"

"What about you, Michella? Will you be fine here?" all eyes turned to the girl.

She blinked, didn't expect someone to ask her opinion. She nodded in affirmative. Living in a hut would help her a lot by this point. She grew tired of sleeping on vacant valleys already.

"It's final then. You will stay here for as long as you want. I'll spare you some clothes to wear, maybe I can bring them tomorrow. You can ask Luffy where to find me if you ever need me. But you should always be careful in this forest, okay? Luffy said he will protect you, though," Makino said, smiling at the quiet girl. Her face was expressionless and eerily calm, and if she thought of something, Makino couldn't find out what.

"Yatta! Yatta! Malala is staying! Yeay!" pure delight radiated from the rubber boy.

Ace didn't know what to expect from the newcomer. Hopefully she was not some kind of charm to bad luck. But life hated him, so he chose not to care anyway.

* * *

 **HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE~!**

 **Well, at least in my country, it's 3 hours past 2015, so yeah, HAPPY NEW YEAR~**

 **Here's the chapter 4 of TO, it's one of the longest chapter, nearly 3k words O.o**

 **I hope you like it~ Though the chapter is particularly light, there are LOTS OF HINTS in this chapter. The barest of hints everywhere especially in this chapter, you have to squint to find them. Feel free to tell me if you catch some hints~ Aa, feel free to comment anything in this work, guys, I don't know what you think about this story if you just keep it in mind. One or two words doesn't hurt, right? *wink***

 **By the way, there's a solid reason about the nickname I choose there. Anyone wants to guess it?**

 **Anyway people, since it's new year and Ace birthday as well, I want to throw you a small present. I'M POSTING A ONESHOT! Check it out, guys! You know it's about who *grin***

 **Abundance of thanks for people who reads/follows/favs TO, you guys graced smiles to my life! *throw love confetti***

 **That's all for now~**

 **Dadah, fellas~!**

 **01/01/2016**

 **-Mei Evelyn**


	5. Chapter 5: The Loner

**"The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

 _In previous chapter: The bandits met the new kid. Luffy got to know the girl's name, and was having a hard time to pronounce it, so he made up a new epithet by instance. Luffy insisted for the girl to stay with them in the mountain and he obliviously gave a way to her heart by promising to protect her. Michella still closed her heart very tight though, choosing to stay because she had no place to run into. Ace didn't know what to expect from the newcomer. Hopefully she was not a charm to bad luck. But life hated him, so he chose not to care anyway._

Ch. 5: The Loner

Michella was one of mysterious girl, Luffy decided. She still refused to speak, avoiding contact with everyone as much as possible and always averting her eyes away when he initiated a conversation. But she seemed fine around Luffy though, and the boy was more than happy to accompany her. He had promised to protect her after all. He was a man so he had to keep his words.

It had been three weeks since her stay with the bandits. Just a week previously Ace and Luffy had completed their own respective countries, with clumsy writings to indicate which was the Ace's country and Luffy's country. Michella chose not to follow suit, she'd rather sleep in the hut, in Dadan's room to be exact, having a small corner spared for her to sleep at night time.

However Dadan was not satisfied. The new kid always neglected her order to do the chores. Michella didn't even bother to tidy up the piles of blanket and a single pillow she had after she woke up, going outside right after she changed clothes for the day, leaving the woman to do it in her place, grumbling all the while. Dadan could see Luffy as a bad influence to her, since the straw hat boy always thought that it was his duty to drag the girl away from the hut before noon, only came back to eat or when it was dusk already.

It was entirely different case with the older brother. Ace did not bother with the new existence at first, but lately he felt that Luffy hung out a lot with that girl, spending a full week to show her everywhere and anywhere, leaving him wandering alone. It wasn't a big deal for him, as he was used to the feeling. But since Luffy cramped himself in Sabo's and his circle of little business, encountered a lot of eventful occasions, went through everything together, and created memories of their precious brotherhood, Ace found himself addicted to the youngest very existence. It became hard to walk without the little boy following close behind. And since Sabo's incident, it drove his feeling downright more lonely than he ever felt before. Thinking about Sabo always made his heart clenched with guilt and sorrow and rage, so he quickly abandoned the thought. He had gotten over with the incident, he just had to keep looking forward.

And just like today, Luffy decided to specifically show her around the Gray Terminal. Luffy said that they went to every place he had gone to save for the Foosha Village, but Michella had more interest in the trash mound. How he'd gotten that idea, Ace didn't know.

He was currently walking aimlessly in the Edge Town, not having any purpose or destination. Somehow he ended up in an alley, where several people gather in a circle, scoundrels no bet. When they caught sight of Ace, they snickered, eyes glinted with something sinister. Ace could recognize that eyes everywhere. Two of them walked closer to Ace, their smiles smug and their gestures cocky.

"Oh see, the little kiddo is alone today. What had happened to the other two, I wonder?" the guy on the right slurred, he was tall but extremely thin.

"Ah, maybe they're having a fight? That won't be good," the guy on the left commented, a bit short and his eyes were on different size.

Ace stood firm, not wavering a bit. "None of your business," he spit.

"Don't be so mean to us. Now why don't you join us instead, kiddo?"

"Yeah, come with us. We can use you good, really. And we're nice with each other. How's that sound?"

Ace growled. "No way in thousands hell, bastard!"

"There's no helping it, kiddo!"

"You must come with us!"

Both men were fast, surging forward to catch Ace but the kid was quick to dodge by lowering his body and rolling aside. Once he was on his feet he immediately had his pipe ready in front of him, challenging them to come at him. The other guys were laughing over their friend, mocking them all the while. The two guys were annoyed by the outcome. Ace was smirking evilly, there was no way he would admit defeat easily in front of these scums. Then the two changed tactic, the shorter guy went to the other side of Ace, blocking his way out of the valley. Ace scoffed, he would never consider running off in the first place. When they charged at him together, he jumped to attack.

The fight lasted for few minutes, Ace stood victorious while both men were lying flat on their stomach, their faces kissed the cold pavement. The other were tense, watching their friends beaten by an eleven year old boy wasn't entertaining at all. Ace glared at the rest of the scoundrels, silently daring them. When he was weighing the option of leaving the hopeless guys or finishing them off, one man stepped forward. His body was bigger than anyone else present, and the way he was walking hinted that he was their leader. A nasty gash was gracing his cheeks, crossing over the bridge of his nose.

"Look, look who's in the town wandering alone," his voice was deep and heavy with disgust, his eyes looked down on Ace. The eleven year old stared back at him hard.

"It's a pity you don't want to join us. It's always been a great disgrace for us to be defeated by small brats like you. Now that you're alone, I get that the same opportunity won't come twice. Go get him!"

In an instance all the men charged forward toward Ace. The boy was determined not to lose, so he dodged, jumped, kicked, swung his pipe, rolled, tackled, struck, stabbed with his pipe, everything he knew about fighting. He moved mostly by wild instinct, but always precisely blew his opponent down. At some point he thought that the thugs in Edge Town were weak he might finish them off quick and clean. He could imagine himself getting stronger day by day, and the thought was really distracting that he missed the glinting side of a blade coming down from his side. The sharpness of the knife went into the side of his abdomen, and he fell to his knees and hands, gasping in air and feeling the pain stung his entire body. The knife was pulled out harshly it sent him onto the ground immediately. He gritted his teeth and turned his head toward the men that were smirking in triumph and he glared at them in fury.

"Well, well, this whole things just take a dangerous turn, don't you think? Kehahahahahaa!" the vicious laughter rang aloud. And that was the only signal needed for the men to come closer to Ace, who knew exactly what would happen next. So he braced himself for the coming pain.

* * *

 **Hello, people~!**

 **Here's an update of TO for you! Shorter than the last chapter, but the last one was special in a way, and here's what I got for the chapter so anyway~ I'm so sorry for making Ace hurt! Sorry! *bow deeply**

 **Feel free to drop any comments about The Outcasts, seriously people, I'm deadly curious about what you think about this amateur's story, I need to know your thoughts! Special thanks for _Guest-san,_ yes I know, little Luffy is cute as always .**

 **Thanks for everyone who had read/faved/followed this story of mine, I'm happy to know someone else is reading my story in another part of this world , Have no idea whether it's enjoyable or not, but I hope so~**

 **By the way, no one is yet to tell me the reason of the girl's nickname given by Luffy, I'm still waiting though~**

 **P.S: I'm currently hyped for two things I just know, one being chapter 812, and another being One Piece film: Gold. I'm supeeerrr excited! Aaa, I'm revising the summary of TO as well~**

 **Anyway, that's it for now!**

 **Dadah, fellas~**

 **01/15/2016**

 **02** **/13/2016 (edited)**

 **-Mei Evelyn**


	6. Chapter 6: The Resolve

**"The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

 _In previous chapter: It had been three weeks since Michella's stay. Luffy dragged her out everyday without fail, leaving a not so happy Dadan, and showed her around for a full week. Ace was feeling lonely. He stumbled upon an alley, where he met some nameless scoundrels. He dared them to fight him, but when he was distracted by his own thought, he missed the flying blade coming his way. His side was bleeding, and he was lying helplessly. When he saw feet coming closer, he knew he would be beaten right then and there. He braced himself for the coming pain._

Ch. 6: The Resolve

The straw hat boy was beyond everything she could ever thought of a boy, Michella couldn't help but thought so. She was around the same age, yes, but she'd gone through something that any other kids would never had to feel. All she knew about childhood was that she was once loved, by family and many people around her, and she loved being up and about the village she'd been living on long time ago. Then came the witch that brought along sorrow, fear, pain, death. The mere thought of the past made her shake her head. Recalling the witch and her nasty deed did nothing but sickened her.

Currently she was examining the stuff littered around in the Gray Terminal. The first time she had stumbled upon the area, she found herself interested right away. There were so many things could be found there, which meant she could use a good opportunity of her ability. They called the stuff useless trash, but she'd rather called those good materials. There were broken woods, fragments of glass, dented metals, blunt knives, flattened irons, damaged housewares, all kinds of things thrown away by people really. She could use them very well, she just needed time to practice, so she decided that Gray Terminal would be a place she frequently visited by then.

"Malala! Look what I found!" Luffy suddenly appeared in front of her, showing a pipe in his right hand that looked almost identical to his own that he held loosely by the left hand.

 _That was fast_ , Michella thought. Several minutes earlier when they arrived at the trash mound, she went to search a certain thing. When Luffy noticed the way she looked around, acting like she was looking for something, he asked her if she wanted to find something, to which the girl answered by pointing his pipe. Now the boy had found the thing faster than her, she was impressed. That showed her the boy spent his time a lot at the place. She took the pipe from him and inspected it to its details.

"It's exactly the same like mine and Ace's! Now we can hunt and fight together! Shishishi!" Luffy grinned.

 _It's not the same, there are differences_ , Michella concluded in her mind. The pipe sure seemed identical to the ones owned by the boys, but she noticed the tiny differences. Their pipes had an L-shaped pipe attachment at one end while had nothing on the other end, whereas the pipe on her hand had a small rounded tube that close the pipe at both ends. She also noticed that Luffy's pipe had some small dents along the pipe, almost invisible to normal eyes, and that Ace's pipe was broken in the middle, only attached by a super glue he might had stolen somewhere she guessed. Both of their pipes had scratches everywhere that showed her they possessed the pipe since long ago, while the new pipe on her grip looked more polished and still usable, indicating that someone had thrown it here in a fairly fine condition. She spun the pipe in her hand, and it felt nice having something appropriate as her defense in her grip rather than a plain wood stick. She felt content and gave Luffy a small smile as to thanks him.

"Do you like it?" Luffy asked with his big round eyes.

Michella nodded once, resulting in Luffy beamed with joy. He grinned very wide, something that would be impossible for anyone else. The boy sure could not contain his happiness from showing like a bright clear day.

They spent the rest of the day wandering around the Gray Terminal, with Luffy excitedly led the way while sprouting nonsense, Michella in tow. When the sun passed the highest point in the sky, both seven-year-old kids were heading back to the bandits' place. The roles were still the same, Luffy in front and Michella just right behind.

On their way back, they stumbled upon wild boar, which triggered the spark on Luffy's eyes and drools came out as he shouted, "That has tasty meat!". The boar was average looking, almost the same like the one he and Ace brought back the day after the storm, only a tad smaller and that this one had far smaller tusks.

"It's alright, Malala! I'll fight the boar and we will bring it home as our lunch! Don't worry!" Luffy proclaimed, body on stance and pipe held out the boar's way. Michella was amused by the sight of bravery Luffy tried to show. He _tried_ , but she caught the slight trembling he had on his hands and the way he gritted his teeth. _Maybe he never hunt without his brother before_ , she presumed.

Luffy cried the battle's cry as he charged forward to the bored-looking boar. Surely Mr. Boar was looking down at the boy, quite literally. He pulled the pipe as far as he could without having his hands stretched and swung forward as hard as he could muster, aiming for the head. When the pipe came in contact with its front quite hard, the boar showed his dislike by swaying its head and dumped Luffy aside in one quick motion. Luffy's small body was flying and thrown to the nearest tree, his left side hit the tree hard. The contact was painful it made him cough and immediately clutched his aching side.

Watching the unexpected outcome from several steps away, Michella was panicking inside, and fear crept its way through her throat. She had faced a lot of terrible things, but wild animal had never been one on the list. She took a stance, her entire being trembled in front of the now angered boar. It was wrong to think the boy could handle this animal on his own, his body not even worth as a match even for the average-sized boar. Not that her own body was any bigger than him. She had came to know that Luffy's body was made of rubber, but concluded right away that even rubber would be completely futile against something as wild animal.

But her ability might stand a chance against it.

Yes, she might have a slim opportunity to take down the boar, but she still wasn't used to the power she possessed. She bit the inside of her mouth. Fighting the boar was the only option, because no way she was going to run away from that boar while holding the injured boy all the while to the hut. And she could not guarantee any safety for both of them in the forest. Sure there was one more option of getting away safely, but it would mean she had to spend much more energy and risk her secret to be at stake. She would not bet everything she had just because she was afraid of the mildly annoyed boar. She was not that afraid to be unable to move an inch, and deliberately revealing her secret in front of the boy would never be an option. And they might get everything went downhill to even worse scenario. Which could lead to death, something that she definitely didn't wish to encounter at the time being. So fighting it would be.

She took one deep breath, and calm herself down. If she had to fight, she would need to concentrate on the sole matter at hand. She narrowed her eyes, focus on the raged animal.

Then suddenly the boar leapt forward, missing her by only a hair when she ducked aside just in time. She had to time her motions, and she planned to keep her movements as efficient as her small body could possibly pull. She needed an opening to send a blow, if possible to knock out the boar by the first and last try. So when the boar charged at her again, she ducked aside, rolled down, jumped back, everything to avoid being crashed at.

Several minutes passed, and Michella felt out of breath already, while the boar snorted at her, looking pissed off all the time its tusk missed her. Michella saw it earlier; an opening she could use against it. Everytime she jumped to her right side, the boar left a thin opening to attack its side because of its slightly slow reaction to realize where she stood. She figured that the boar's left eye might be blurry, or simply blind judging by the faded colour of its iris. And since she was panting already, she knew she needed to execute her plan not any longer. She readied her pipe, gripping it with both hands to the point that her knuckles went white.

The boar charged straight at her with a roar. At a certain short distance, Michella jumped to her right, but not stepping away like she always did. Instead she stood her ground, swung the pipe back just a bit, and closed her eyes.

 _This is it._

* * *

Ace groggily lifted his eyelids and blinked several times to get away of the hazy view. He was still flat to the ground, but this time his back was on the pavement. He recognized the colour of the sky as of late afternoon, it wasn't dusk yet, but moving to it. Few hours had definitely passed since the thugs left him on the valley. Why they didn't bring him along he didn't know and didn't care. It was fortunate this way, instead of being sold off somewhere or taken to their disgusting place. He'd always choose Dadan's country rather than any other place without batting an eye.

When he tried to move his body, he groaned loudly from the stinging pain. It felt like the bastards didn't left a single space of his body unkicked. He felt utterly defeated, and therefore led to shame. He had swore to never back down to any opponent, and here he was, laying painfully on the ground. It hurt both his body and his resolve.

He forced his body to quickly snap out of being useless, gritting his teeth while he got to sit down properly. When he made it he let out gasping breaths, he'd never thought that trying to sit had spent a great effort like such. After quite some time, he regained his calm breath and began to look for his pipe, which was placed above the cover of trash can at the far end of the valley. He cringed at the sight; the pipe was broken in half, one half mended in the middle and the other was full of blade's signs. Those thugs seemed to hold amounts of grudge against him.

He sighed, tired of being hated because of the mere existence of him. He really had no idea why was he allowed to be born in the first place. His veins had the blood of a demon, whom the entire world despised even after his death. No one had wished for his birth, and his life held no purpose. Why was he alive?

Sabo and Luffy. Right, the two were the ones that gave him the will to live his life. They had forced their way into his heart, and blatantly ignored the fact that everyone else might give him cold back and eyes filled with hatred. It didn't matter for both of them as long as Ace was still their brother. The thought of them filled him with warm.

 _I should come back to Luffy_ , he resolved. His eyes changed into one of determination, and tried to stand. He held his body up by walking with the rough wall as his support. His right leg hurt like hell, and his left side barely had any power to keep him upright. The gash on his side abdomen stung every time he moved. After minutes of agonizingly walks toward his pipe, he reached them down and used the straight one to support his weight, and walked toward the general direction of the Great Gate. He needed to come back to Luffy, because he had promise Sabo that he would take his place as a big brother to protect him from no matter what, and he could not leave Luffy until at least a few years ahead.

 _Sabo_ , he thought solemnly. His fists clenched hard, he bit his bottom lip. The bottom of his empty stomach churned with guilt and pain.

 _I will never loose Luffy. I promise you, Sabo. I promise._

* * *

 **Yow~!**

 **Here's chapter six of The Outcasts! *and I change the summary again! :P**

 **Please enjoy, everyone. Feel free to drop any comments~ Also thanks for everyone who had read/follow/fav this story *throw confetti for you~ Special thanks to SupremeGeneralJoker-san, thanks for the review! Here's new chapter~**

 **Hmm, I think that's it for now (wow it's short)**

 **Dadah, fellas~!**

 **01/29/2016**

 **02/13/2016 (edited** )

 **-Mei Evelyn**


	7. Chapter 7: The Broken

**"** **The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

 _In previous chapter: Michella got a new pipe of her own, given by Luffy. On their way back to Dadan's country, they faced a "tasty meat" as Luffy quoted, which turned out to be a completely out-raged boar. Now the boy was dumped quite easily, Michella was left by an option; fight it with her own power. On Ace's side of story, he awoke with pain all over. When he questioned his existence, he was reminded by Sabo and Luffy. He made up his mind, and promise not to loose Luffy as well._

Ch. 7: The Broken

Michella didn't know how to react. She was utterly clueless of what to do in her current situation. She was sitting in the middle of the bandits' hut. Luffy was in front of her, beaming with his grin ever so wide despite currently having his head bandaged.

She felt uncomfortable. Not with the boy, but with the surrounding awkward and panicked, annoying adults. The chibi bandit was the one bandaging Luffy's head, openly grumbling all the while. The chicken head bandit was holding out the medical kit, whispering calming words to his partner. She was thoroughly confused as to why she still couldn't manage to get their respective names right. It wasn't that hard really, as she memorized complicated terms back at home. Maybe it was merely because she didn't find the need to remember their names, it wasn't like she was going to call them anyway.

She caught some bandits glancing to where she sat in purely curious way. She felt extremely uneasy. She wasn't used to the innocent, unintimidated, demandless way of staring, and she ran out of idea of what to do.

She did know their reason, which was entirely on their privileges to be curious. Luffy had just babbled their encounter with the boar, and while she was powerless to prevent or stop the sugar-intoxicated boy, the other occupants of Dadan's country was gradually having their eyes bigger by the seconds to the point it might came out of its socket. Fortunately the story stop at some point before it might happen. All of her energy had been drained out, and what left was only to let them openly stare and quietly guess.

"Okashira! Okashiraa! We're back!" someone shouted from outside.

Michella noticed the orange-haired woman walked from her spot behind the big chicken head toward the front door. Earlier when they arrived at the hut, and Luffy exclaimed happily that they— _she_ had taken down a boar on their way back, Dadan immediately sent away four bandits to check and retrieve it.

Luffy somehow jumped to his feet and followed behind, chanting "meat's coming" along the way. Since she didn't want to be stuck with the bandits, she got up on her feet and stepped outside, her grip was tight around her new pipe. Light of late afternoon sun rays seeped through the leaves, gave away the warm feeling. And then she saw her trophy, lifted by the four bandits above their heads. She was proud and satisfied. She had defeated the boar, which size trump her by default, only by her ability and without much casualties as well. Which meant she grew up, building her power and making her way to fully control it. It was a long way to go, but still a relatively good start.

She heard Dadan ordered them to prepare the meats for dinner tonight, and they took leave right away. Luffy spun around to face her, and smile the widest smile she had received since her stay. Michella couldn't help herself to return the smile, because not the size of it that made her relax around him, but the sincerity that shone through the round eyes of his. She would never admit it out loud, but it was nice having him around. Actually, he was the only one she could handle being together with, and she couldn't lie to herself that it was comforting to have nice companion. It was a feeling that escaped her since her freedom was robbed away.

However, the comfortable moment they shared was disturbed with collective gasps coming from several people around them.

"A-Ace!" a bandit sputtered.

"Ace?!" Luffy spun on his heels when he heard his brother's name with his usual excited state, completely oblivious to the tone that the bandit had. Michella craned her neck to see the older boy. But the sight betrayed what she had expected.

A bloody, full of bruises and injuries Ace was hardly standing on his feet with the help of a half broken pipe. He seemed to be breathing hard, and a stream of blood lining down through his closed right eye. She noticed the way Ace was slightly wincing on his step, and she caught the moment when his face contorted with more pain before he brought one of his hand to his left abdomen. She saw more blood dampened that part of his shirt before he closed the sight with his palm. It must be painful to bear the nasty looking injuries in his body, but at least he was alive.

"Ace, what's wrong?!" the high pitch exclamation came from behind Michella, belonging to the chibi bandit.

"A-Ace...? Ace!" Luffy was openly shocked by the fact of his heavily wounded brother, then took a sprint toward him a second later.

Michella watched the scene before her eyes, quietly analyzing what could have possibly happen to the older boy while Luffy and she was away. Taking as much information as she could from seeing his current state, she could say that he wasn't fighting with animal, judging from the cuts and wounds that seemed to be brutally intentional and least likely came as a result from fighting off animal. _Most likely thugs_ , she concluded.

Right when she took a first step forward, Ace lost his last drop of energy and passed out. She heard Luffy screamed and the bandits following soon after him.

"Ace...!"

* * *

Ace was having an extreme complication within himself. Since he regained consciousness on the next day after he went home with bloody sight all over his body, four days ago to be exact, he could never put a name to his own current feeling. He felt relief that he was able to reach Dadan's country before passing out; he felt defeated since he was beaten by those thugs; there was also something akin to shame and regret pooling in his heart; rage must be taking part as well; and somewhat grateful as he still could see Luffy smiling around. But there was something unrecognizable, so foreign that it felt weird having the nameless feeling within.

The feeling was particularly stronger when that Michella girl was around. Or when Luffy was busy chanting her name and telling their adventures around. Or when both of them were going together to only them knew where. Ace felt like his stomach was churned with something bitter yet he stubbornly denied the most likely of all possibilities.

"You're jealous, ain't ya?"

 _Jealous? Ha, that's simply impossible_. Ace snorted. He was currently sitting cross-legged at the doorway of his own country, eyes piercing through the woods, staring at none in particular. He was alone until the annoying voice disturbed his own musing. _Wait_ , he thought. He was alone..., right?

"Wa-what?" he sputtered and blinked twice. There stood someone, about two steps away to his left, smirking down at him. Someone he knew very well that he immediately thought that _a smirk_ was not suitable for the said person.

"Dadan? What're you doing here?"

"Avoiding the topic, huh? Well, isn't it me who should've asked that? What are _you_ doing _here_ , Ace? I'm always around here, it's just you who decided to hide in your country for whatever reason," Dadan said, still smirking nonetheless.

Ace opened his mouth to throw back a reply, but found himself biting back his words. He realized just at the moment that he didn't have any reason for staying this long near the bandits' house. It was that, or he simply never realized the truth. He frowned. Why was it again that he didn't go out hunting like his usual self would do? He was hurt, but that was no reason because he was back in shape after a whole day of resting his body in the house. So why?

Something clicked inside of Ace's head as he suddenly grasped the situation. Luffy was away with that Michella girl again and left Ace instead, alone in his own small property, without turning back to him. So in conclusion, he was dumped by his little brother. It felt suck.

He stood up abruptly, startling Dadan who was having her cigarette. His hand grabbed his pipe above the ground. He eyed the pipe angrily. His only pipe had been broken by the thugs of Edge Town, he had clumsily put a glue to reconnect the separated halves, and he had tried to fix the mended part but had failed miserably to make it back to its initial straight shape. The result of his work was a complete mess. The pipe was not even worth to be called a weapon again.

He walked into the forest, unconsciously stumping his feet hard on each step, ignoring the snickering woman behind.

"So you are jealous indeed," Dadan said to no one. She couldn't help but smile.

* * *

"Ne, ne, Malala. We should hunt crocodile sometime. Remember the river I showed you yesterday? They live there in packs, and they're tasty as well," Luffy joyfully explained his idea with active hand gestures to his only companion.

Michella let out a small smile in return. A smile was the least she could do to acknowledge Luffy's presence around. They just came back from Gray Terminal, training her ability since the morning came with Luffy as the only audience allowed to see.

They were on their way back to the hut in the afternoon when she caught sight of the older brother. Correction to that, of the grumpy older brother.

"Oii, Ace!" Luffy waved excitedly when Ace was on his sight. However, he didn't reply nor smile. Instead, he stepped closer to them, and stopped with one wide step gap between him and the girl. They were having a stare-down, one with heavy glare and one with unreadable eyes. Michella was a girl with a rare composed stature beyond average, and spiteful pair of older eyes was something she grew accustomed to stare back at. A hated glare sent by merely-three-years-older-than-her kid was not something that could make her quiver down.

After a time span that floated like eternity, Ace decided to break eye contact by shoving the pipe in his grip in front of the girl. Michella didn't expect the downcast look from the older boy, it was like he tried to hide the dejected emotion that fleeting from his eyes.

"Take it." It wasn't an offering, it was a demand.

Michella contemplated of what to do. Honestly, she wasn't fond of the grumpy boy's presence. Sure she recognized the vibes of darkness within the boy, almost the same like the one she bore since few years ago. But both of them were like two ends of magnet with the same polarity. Pretty much the same content but pushing away each other. While Michella was avoiding contact as much as possible, Ace just didn't bother to be close enough to her.

Not having any clear decision, and since the boy didn't seem like he gave her any other choice, she gripped the broken pipe. Ace didn't let loose until several seconds later. His eyes drifted up to catch the black orbs of her own and held the gaze firm.

"Congrats. Luffy seems happy to be with you, and it turns out you both can protect yourself without any help. You make a good pair," Ace whispered out, like to make sure Luffy couldn't catch it from his position just few steps behind.

After saying those, Ace took a sudden sprint to the path where they had came from. Michella turned around and watched the back of the running boy. She ignored Luffy's loud yelling that would definitely reach Ace's ears as the older brother didn't stop in his track. She could read that one last look from the boy as clear as day. She failed to decipher the reason though.

 _Why would he smile when he's sad?_

* * *

 **Hello, people~ Whaddup~**

 **Chapter 7, here you are~**

 **Well, jealous Ace is jealous. I'm sorry if the plot seems to progress too quick, I need to have the pace faster, so we can get to the complication soon. Get ready people, in the next few chapters the road will only get stonier and the story will get thicken, the core of the story.**

 **And I change something in the story, concerning the age of these kids, as a few days ago I just realized something big in my plot line. It's true there's always age inconsistency in canon, but I want to make the plot... makes sense at least. So, yeah.**

 **That's it for now~**

 **Dadah, fellas~**

 **02/13/2016**

 **-Mei Evelyn**


	8. Chapter 8: The Siblings

"The Outcasts"

(c) Mei Evelyn

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

In previous chapter: Luffy couldn't contain himself from spilling the whole encounters of the day with Michella, in which the girl couldn't stop him by any means. Then Ace came back with signs of defeat, passed out just when he arrived in front of the bandits' house. After he woke up, he felt the tendency of feeling an unknown yet bitter emotion when it came to how close Luffy was with the girl. A short encounter in the forest, Ace gave his broken pipe to Michella. The young girl was wondering why would he smile when he's sad.

Ch. 8: The Siblings

Michella was more than capable to notice the growing distance between the two brothers. It was like a glaring fact in a clear day that the older of the two had avoided the younger after their encounter where Ace had given her his broken pipe. Sometimes she would catch the distant look on Ace's eyes whenever he thought no one was looking his way. There was longing in his eyes, and Michella was sure of the reason.

However, the said reason appeared to be completely oblivious to his brother's withdrawal. Monkey D. Luffy was having his time just like usual, letting time flowed by like an infinite stream of a river. Well, she couldn't blame him though, because aside from his stupidity and obliviousness, that grumpy kid had put a good acting skill into use. But even with that, it didn't mean that the others wouldn't notice the change between the kids. Especially the bandits' leader, Curly Dadan.

Michella could see how careless and caring Dadan could be concerning the kids. And she meant exactly the sentence. Dadan didn't care anymore about the fact that the kids would never do chores, that Luffy would always drag Michella out first thing in the morning, that Ace would go anywhere else to only-he-knew-where. Maybe she had given up on those matters. Yet Michella knew how relieved the woman felt everytime they came home unscatched, seeing the tense muscle on her shoulders would loosen up once her eyes saw them. Also the times when the kids had some scratches or injuries here and there on their body, Michella knew that Dadan was worried, in spite of acting angry at them. The same applied to the other bandits as well.

Despite how nice and harmless the bandits were, Michella could never lie to herself that she still feared them. She was not afraid of bandits, but she would always feel wary around adults, generally speaking. She could read most people even from their body languages or expressions on their faces, and she could tell one's characters after some time of observing the person. But she had came upon a cruel fact that adults had complicated thoughts that even her could never predict what action would an adult take after a moment of deciding a choice, especially when they were forced to be in a cornered situation. To put it in one simple conclusion, Michella could never know what adults would do to her. And she was terrified of the implications that could happen.

The seven year old girl knew that fact from experience, and she knew all to well that didn't matter how nice someone could be, egoism would always be part of all kinds of men. In seconds of danger, someone would be forced to abandon others who were closest to them in order to climb to the safe zone all by themselves. That was why she refused to get close to anyone. To adults to be precise.

It was entirely different case with one certain rubber boy. Since she met Luffy, she couldn't help but to feel at ease around the strawhat boy. For once after what felt like eternity, she felt comfortable around somebody.

Back to Ace's case. Michella was pretty sure that Dadan had seen through the boy. Her guess was proved to be true when one night, around two months after Ace's decision to travel around all alone, just after she entered the room she had slept in since her first stay, Dadan had unconsciously spilled her thoughts in a slightly drunken state. Michella saw the bottle in the woman's hand who was sitting in a chair behind an opened window. The bandit was leaning into the chair, her eyes staring out the window.

"That Ace kid huhh... He's back to 'is old self kinda... All 'lone and actin' tough huhh... Couldn't blame 'im, the kid's jealous of ya, ya know? Aaa, sleepin' already, kid? Hmm..." Dadan said in her slurred voice.

Michella, who was laying on her small futon, was having her back to the woman, facing the wall instead. She wasn't sleeping yet, and the revelation rang a bell inside of her head, making her unable to get a sleep. Michella found herself pondering the fact that Dadan just revealed unconsciously that night. Sure she knew that Ace was withdrawing himself from Luffy, but she never felt bothered to find out the reason to that. All these time, she had thought that he behaved that way because the boy was simply cold toward people, a trait that she picked up as well, and judging from how Luffy behaved just fine without his older brother around had her concluding that Ace was always that cold on daily basis. She only got to know it that Ace was used to be cold back in the old days, meaning that he wasn't until recently. And since Ace's withdrawal was based on jealousy, as Dadan had openly indicated in her speech, everything became clearer than before. His true feeling would explain the slight solemn look Ace had everytime he was stuck in his own world.

Train of thought followed soon one after another, a trail that somewhere had led her into a certain feeling pooling in the pit of her stomach. It was guilt. Unfortunately, once a thought had been planted on her mind, she could hardly shake it off. The sole reason as to why she was distracted and wasn't able to concentrate well in her training in the Gray Terminal. It had been a whole week since the guilt started nagging her mind.

Clank!

The sound of the metal bar fallen from her loose grip that had hit a bar of steel on the ground had snapped her from her inner thought. She inwardly sighed. She never knew that such feeling could turn this bad. She needed to seriously settle the matter at hand, lest she became incapable of continuing her training furthermore. She had to get a grip on herself, but she needed to put a stop to the annoying emotion that currently took control over her being. But she had no idea of what to do in such situation. She glared angrily at the fallen metal above the ground.

"Malala? Are you okay?"

Michella turned around and saw a pair of concerned eyes of the strawhat boy. This was the exact reason why she could be comfortable around Luffy. The boy screamed honesty in all of his expressions. If she could, she wanted to keep the innocence of the pure-hearted boy. That she would do willingly of course.

Instead of referring an answer to a nod or a shake of head, which meant yes or no in general, she cast her eyes down onto the ground. Luffy, being the Luffy he was, couldn't get the message through. So he frowned in confusion.

A moment of silence fell upon the two kids, until Luffy decided to end it. "Ne Malala, let's meet Makino, shall we?" the little boy suggested.

Michella contemplated her option. Going back to the hut now would be a waste, since she wouldn't do a thing there. Well, to be honest she could do the daily neglected chores, but she had enough of that already in the past. And she needed to solve her problem soon. Maybe by going somewhere else would give her some idea. So she nodded her head in confirmation.

Luffy's face immediately lit up to an excited grin. He handed Michella her pipe, whilst his other hand gripping his own. Like usual, Luffy led the way a step ahead, Michella closely following behind.

* * *

Michella was pretty sure that they were lost for a few times, as Luffy sometimes would circle around in a weird route. But of course, the boy didn't realize that, he kept on walking and walking, until somehow they came out of the thick forest to meet with the view of Foosha Village. Michella made sure to take note about the directions back to the bandits' hut.

It was her first time setting foot on the small village. She couldn't help but notice some resemblances between Foosha and her own village back then. There were a lot of differences though, but a bell had rang aloud inside of her memory before she could prevent it.

A vast landscape appeared before her eyes.

The natural colours of earth always amazed her.

The beauty would magically be anew every morning.

The sweet scent of the island would accompany her.

The cool breeze would embrace her in comfortable manner.

All that were turned upside down in just one fateful days.

The day when everything had been thrown away from her.

The day when her life had been forcefully taken from her possession.

The day she loathed very much.

"Malala?"

Michella was snapped out abruptly by Luffy's voice and the hand tugging at her own. She looked downward. She had just recalled that again. The living nightmare that had been engraved into the deep of her mind. She was grateful Luffy was there with her, lest she got a sudden flashback.

"Are you okay?" Luffy asked with a frown.

Michella gave him a slight nod.

"Ja, here's my hometown. Makino is working on a bar not far from here. Come on!" Luffy said, holding into Michella's wrist as he ran down the road.

All the way to the said bar, Michella kept on casting her eyes down, avoiding to meet other people's eyes by any means. If she could, she would be thanking Luffy for holding her arm. Well, she could, but she wouldn't.

When they finally reached the bar Makino owned, Michella rose her head, only to cast downward again, as there were several people sitting in the bar that noticed their coming and greeted Luffy in instance. Luffy, still holding into her hand, greeted them back with short responses and led both of them to the counter of the bar. Luffy only released his hold once they were seated. Behind the counter stood the green haired owner, Makino.

"Hello, Luffy, Michella. Long time no see, hm?" Makino greeted them with smile.

"Hi, Makino! It sure is long! I bring Malala, since she doesn't feel well today. Ne, Makino. Maybe you can help her?" Luffy said, shocking Michella with the voiced thought.

Makino immediately looked into Michella and asked with concern, "Do you feel unwell, Michella?"

Michella quickly shook her head. She didn't feel unwell physically at the very least. But she needed to find out the solution to her problem by her own, she couldn't spill it to anyone. Besides, the current matter at hands was not that big of a deal. She could find a way by herself.

"Are you sure? I can help you if you need something," Makino asked again.

Michella nodded twice. She was okay by herself.

Makino smiled in response, while Luffy exclaimed that he was happy Michella was alright. Then Makino decided to treat the two kids with orange juice. After taking care of some customers, Makino seated herself in front of the kids and chatted with the overly excited kid went by the name of Monkey D. Luffy. Michella was having her time by watching silently from her spot on Luffy's side.

Everything was nice and comfortable for Michella, until Makino mentioned Ace.

"Where is Ace by the way? Isn't he always together with you, Luffy?"

Hearing the name said, Michella couldn't help but remember her current problem. Sure she wasn't at fault for the older boy to act that way, but she knew that her existence had replaced his position on Luffy's side, a fact that he apparrently had learned to accept the hard way. Michella wasn't fond of the boy at all, but she couldn't ignore the fact that she had led the boy back to his cold self, something that she didn't like at the very least. Rather than making someone turned bad by her existence, she would prefer herself to be left alone. That way was better for her.

Surprisingly, Luffy turned solemn by the question. "Ace is fine, I think. Well, I don't really know. Ace never spends time with me again. I think he's mad at me," Luffy said, lips curved downward.

Michella dislike that look on Luffy's face. It didn't suit him. But something clicked inside of her head. Luffy thinks that Ace is mad at him. And what shocked her furthermore was that Michella, out of all people, didn't see that coming. It was either the boy concealed his feeling all too well, or Michella failed to see it through. Although it seemed quite impossible, she'd rather it was the former. It was obvious that Luffy was the kind that left no hint to his actions as he was easily read over by first glance, according to her standard at least. But that last confession had left more bitter taste to her already pooling guilt.

"But Malala is here with me. I'm not feeling lonely at all, and Malala is awesome! She has a really great ability, you know! I'm grateful for having Malala as my friend. Shishishi," Luffy said, slowly creating a new light to his face. Makino was having her expression from one of worry to smile of relieved at Luffy's antics.

On the other hand, Michella was left awestruck by that statement. She stared in disbelief at the grinning boy. So it was because of she had been there with Luffy that he didn't appear to be feeling lonely at all. So Luffy was actually missing his brother. A swirl of thoughts took over Michella's mind, and in a matter of seconds she came to a decision to get her problem over with.

* * *

Hello, people...

Here's an update. Sorry if you don't like this chapter. I know it seems lack of event, but this chapter along with the next one will be about Michella, or rather the way she thinks. I hope I wrote her personality well, because it's my OC and I want you to know her too. And to take notes, this calm chapter is only the beginning of something big, you can say a calm before the storm. We will soon meet the complication of the story.

Thanks for everyone who reads/follows/favs this story of mine. Really, I love it everytime ffnet sends me an email, noticing that someone is enjoying my story. Thanks^^

By the way, I'm sorry if this chapter kinda... um how should I say it, less edited(?). It's because my modem being a jerk now, so I upload it with my phone. I feel bad already for the one day off-schedule.

Fell free to drop any comments, yeah!

Dadah, fellas~

02/27/2016

-Mei Evelyn


	9. Chapter 9: The Renew

**"** **The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

 _In previous chapter: Michella found out that her existence had replaced Ace's position on Luffy's side, and therefore had led the grumpy boy to put a growing distance to the younger one. Guilt took place on her heart, distracting her mind from training well. A trip to Foosha Village, a glass of orange juice, and a conversation settled between Luffy and Makino had somehow told Michella that Luffy was thinking Ace was mad with him. She came to a decision to get all of her problems over with._

Ch. 9: The Renew

That night, the same day she visited Foosha Village for the first time, the day when she found out that she had failed to know how Luffy felt for having his older brother's withdrawal, the day that she decided to end it by doing something, for Luffy's sake. Why she was so determined to do so for someone else, something that would never even cross her mind as a mere thought had it been anyone else but Luffy, she had a solid idea that she fully grasped and understood.

Monkey D. Luffy had come across the wall she had built for the past years of her life full of hardship. The only one whom she could get comfortable with, the only stranger that had made friendship to be acceptable for her, the first person throughout the years full of distrust toward everybody to finally see the tiny light that the world had failed to offer to her.

Luffy was the light himself. She could see the shine when his smile reached his eyes, she always saw the pure excited gleam in him first thing in the morning, and she had never seen a person so honest like Luffy since her late Father and Mother. Something that she had been looking for everywhere but never stumbled upon one. She had been betrayed by fake honesty so hard to the point that she believed good men were bygones in this world full of evil. The only thing she could do to survive were to close her heart tight and defend herself as long as she was still breathing. But Luffy showed her the kindness she quietly longed for, and had easily put a place at her silent world. Somehow the boy had given her a little light to see another colors aside from the black and white she had accustomed to.

And due to the small yet meaningful things Luffy had presented unknowingly, Michella decided to step back from his life. She would gladly do so, in order to give Luffy the better life he deserved.

First, she needed to fix the broken string between the brothers. Before she could stepped away, she needed to reattach the brothers, because no matter how happy Luffy seemed everyday, the thing was that Luffy could never be left alone. It would only sadden him. She didn't want sad Luffy for sure. So first step was to push Ace and Luffy back together. She had plan for that.

That night when everybody went to sleep, she walked outside the hut toward the back side. She walked quietly, closer to a certain big tree. It had huge roots that crawled above the ground. Between the roots, right under the tree itself was a small gap that gave away inside. She reached her hand into the hole, and fix her hold onto something inside. When she took it out, she examined the things carefully. It was the broken pipe Ace had given her. The sad looking pipe that she hid there since she couldn't save it in the bandit's palace without raising any question. The pipe which initially belonged to Ace. She was going to repair it.

She glanced back to the house, checking the vicinity for someone or something. When she made sure she was alone, she sat on the ground, her back leaning into the tree. She held the two halves of the same pipe before her in both her hands.

This was supposed to be easy for her. She had trained for quite some time now, and the initial basic shape of the pipe was known to her, which made everything easier. And the fact that the pipe's structure was fairly simple was a good thing to her.

She put the two materials together, the broken ends met each other. After a second of silence, the pipe began to shift. She could feel the energy that flowed out from her palm into the pipe, the usual vibration every time she did the same thing. The sharp edges quickly became dull, and soon the two halves reattached to one single pipe. Then the heavily mended part of one half sprang to its straight course in matter of seconds, resounding a low _click-clack_ sound from the pipe. The nasty looking scratches that graced the pipe disappeared in pretty fast and smooth manner, starting from one end to the other, leaving no trace of ever been violated.

After she'd done, she inspected her work. She spun the pipe with one hand and felt satisfied with the result. However, when she stopped spinning it and held it before her, she realized something was missing. There was no L-shaped pipe attachment at either ends, which she remembered was originally there. Well, it wasn't a big deal at all. The pipe was all that matter, now that it could be used again as a weapon. So she stood up and walked back into the hut. Time to advance to the next step of her plan.

* * *

She really had no idea whether there was a valid reason to her little action. After accomplishing the first step of her plan, which was to repair Ace's broken pipe, she planned to proceed to the next step, which was to put it in Luffy's country beside the boy's own pipe so that in the morning the straw-hat boy could see and give it to Ace as a present. And before Luffy could fetch her like the daily task he had assigned himself into, Michella would already be gone for good.

But somehow, rather than going straight to Luffy's country, she had gone back to the room where she had slept for the last three months. She came to get her own pipe that rest on the side of her _futon_. She gripped the second pipe with her left hand that also held Ace's pipe, the end of her pipe stood a bit higher than Ace's. She touched the rounded tube that closed the mouth of the pipe, and took it out from its hold. She put it on the open end of Ace's pipe instead. Then she furrowed her eyebrows.

 _Our pipes have different attachment, so why am I still doing this anyway?_ she thought, curious to her own decision. But she put it aside since she believed no one would realize the little change anyway, and putting it back to her own pipe was much of a bother now.

She gripped her pipe on her free hand, and went toward the front door. Once she was outside, she saw the two standing palace that the two brothers had built on their own. A sincere smile graced her lips. It was funny, she had thought. They built a place for their own and claimed the ground above as their respective country. They even went as far as to write their property's claim with clumsy handwriting and hung it up proudly. A childish act, but quite outstanding at the same time. They were only kids, yet they managed to build something without anyone giving a helping hand. The palaces were small and vulnerable, but somehow it stood firmly above the ground. And from tomorrow on, she wouldn't be able to see them again.

She sighed without a sound. She went into Luffy's country, where she found the owner currently sleeping messily under a blanket, his hands gripping his pipe loosely, his straw hat sitting by the boy's head. She crouched down beside him, and quietly put Ace's pipe down. She had planned to leave immediately after that, but she found herself stay put at her position.

She didn't know what made her stay, but she took her time nonetheless. She looked at Luffy's face, and a smile made way to her face. To put it frankly, she would definitely miss the boy. His presence had been warm to have around, and his smile had enlighten her colourless days. She never had a day since she was five years old, the age that she had officially met the beginning of her long suffering, that she would easily lit up a sincere smile due to small things. Only Luffy managed to do it so far, with all of his childish acts and honest smiles and one simple promise he made.

 _"_ _Malala is my friend! I can protect her, and we can teach her to fight on her own. So it's fine for her to stay!" Luffy said, stubbornly forcing his will while struggling to get up on his feet._

 _Makino chuckled, "Will you really protect her, Luffy?"_

 _"_ _Of course I will! I'm a man after all!" he said while he stood funnily with his round stomach._

 _"_ _Will you promise me then?"_

 _"_ _I promise I'll protect her!"_

Michella's smile went to a quiet chuckle as she recalled the memories. It would remain as a precious one for the rest of her life. The promise was highly unexpected, and to have the boy actually keeping to his words had unknowingly turn her mindset anew. Now she wanted to see again what the world could offer to her aside from its dark stories and suffering. She just set a new goal to aim.

 _I want to live._

Formerly, she could only survive and keep her sanity as best as she could. She had not been living her life freely. Now that she wasn't imprisoned by anything, she could wander wherever she wished. She didn't need to be afraid anymore, the only thing she had to be aware of was bastards walking around. She had some experiences with several bastards and the fact that she managed to flee from their dirty hands encouraged her to face the unseen world yet keeping alert to her surrounding at all costs.

Luffy had ignite the spark in Michella. She just needed to keep the little fire ablaze.

Michella reached out to take the straw hat that rest by Luffy's head, the rim of it covering his forehead. She put it at the other side of the owner's head. Then slowly, she bent down to kiss Luffy's forehead. And very softly, almost inaudible in the silent night, she whispered, "Thank you. Goodbye, Luffy."

* * *

 **Whaddup, people!**

 **Don't worry, I'm still alive! Sorry for the late chapter, I'm busy nowadays, with finals approaching sooner than expected (no thanks to some freaks), so yeah... Sorry *bows deeply**

 **Well, this chapter (hopefully) will be the last one before the complication starts to rise. You got to know my OC _and_ what she's capable of doing *winks* And ohhh! What's that in the last line?! She speaks? She just speaks! Holy people! If you read the previous chapter attentively, you might already got that hint actually. It's quiet obvious..., isn't it?**

 **Thanks for everyone who reads/follows/favs this series. Luv ya so much...**

 **Oh yeah, for the last note, since finals are coming really soon, and it won't finish quickly, I have like, 7 days of practical exams, 3 days of national exams, several days spare, then 7 days of school exams, which if not re-scheduled again will be over by the end of April. So if there's no update from me for the next month, please mind that I'm struggling for my future. If I have any possible time to update, I'll try my best to update. If not, nah...**

 **Last thing (I swear this is the last), I upload a new story, a One Piece stand alone series. Please check it out!**

 **That's it for now!**

 **Dadah, fellas~**

 **03/16/2016**

 **-Mei Evelyn**


	10. Chapter 10: The Missing Girl

**"** **The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

 _In previous chapter: Michella realized that Luffy had affected her life so much, had turned her to see the world through a better view, to make her believe there were still kindness in the despicable world she lived in. And due to the small yet meaningful things Luffy had presented unknowingly, Michella decided to step back from his life, in order to give Luffy the better life he deserved. Now she just set a new goal to aim. She wanted to live. And in that night, she gave the sleeping boy a farewell kiss, and softly whispered, "Thank you. Goodbye, Luffy."_

Ch. 10: The Missing Girl

Ace woke up to Luffy screaming his lungs out, calling his name. He jumped to his feet immediately, his hands reaching out to an empty space out of habit, the spot where he used to place his pipe. Holding to nothing but air, he remembered that his pipe was not in his possession any longer.

"Ace!" Luffy called out to him in louder voice, so he ran outside, only to be stumbled with the loud rubber boy, quite hard. Fortunately he managed not to fall on his butt, only stepping back a few feet to steady himself. On the other end, the recently-turned-eight year old boy was on the ground, though it wasn't for long as he jumped back to his feet right away.

Ace was going to voice his question, but Luffy beat him into it. "Ace! Look, look!" he said, waving a pipe in front of him as to emphasize his point. Rather than hurting, as Ace had formerly concluded so, Luffy was glowing in joy. He was overjoyed, if that were possible. At least Ace calmed down by the fact that Luffy was fine.

"What?" he asked, not getting what Luffy wanted with the pipe on his right hand.

"It's your pipe, Ace! Malala fix it!" Luffy said excitedly.

"Huh?" Ace said, thoroughly perplexed.

The response, or lack thereof, turned Luffy's grin into a pout. He waved the pipe once again. "It's Ace's pipe, you see. Malala must have fix it for you!" he said, returning with glee laced in his voice.

Ace grumbled. "Luffy, that's impossible. Why would she do that? Besides, my pipe was beyond repair. Nothing can ever fix it, no one," Ace said as matter-of-fact.

However, Ace was currently facing a stubborn little brother who insistently stood his ground as he kept on saying, "But Malala can fix it for sure! I know she can, I see her everyday doing the same thing to other stuffs!"

"That's nonsense, Lu," Ace retorded without doubt.

He got a firm gaze in return. He paid it by glaring back with unwavering one of his own. No one was willing to back down until Ace decided to pull himself together and put the pointless conversation to an end. This was not the kind he wished to converse with Luffy when he imagined himself starting to speak with his little brother after his time in solitude.

"Fine if you insist. Why don't we just ask her straight away, so we can clear this matter. Let's go," Ace declared, walking toward Dadan's country without waiting for Luffy's answer.

"Ah, right! I'm sure she's the one who fix it, Ace. Wait, Ace!" he said, quickly following his older brother.

However, when they reached the said girl's room, or rather Dadan's room in which Michella slept in, something was missing—someone they were looking for to be exact. Seeing the absent of the girl, Ace went directly to where Dadan was sleeping on her side, and called her, "Oi, Dadan. Where's that girl?" When he received no answer, he raised his voice in attempt to startle the bandit boss up, "Oii!"

Luffy, with his typically no-care-to-politeness-whatsoever attitude, swung the pipe onto Dadan's body, successfully pulling the woman out of her sweet dream mid-story. "Akhh! It hurts, hurts! Aaa! You rascals! Why'd you hit me, huh?!" she said as she jerked up from her position on the bed. The main suspect only laughed.

Ace, who was slightly having a _de javu_ for a few seconds there, quickly explained before the raged woman threw something to their way, "We only want to ask you the girl's whereabouts. We need to settle something."

"Huh? She's not here?" she wondered out loud, tilting her head to see the suspicious neat piles of _futon_ at the other end of the room. "I don't know. Maybe she woke up early. Anyway, what do you need to settle with?" she asked in return.

Ace was silent for a while, then he answered shortly before turning away, "It's nothing important."

Dadan was the only one in the room as the two boys walked out together. She thought, _"Why do I have a bad feeling to this? Hmm."_

* * *

Ace really had no idea to the girl's whereabouts. He and Luffy had asked everyone in the house if they had seen Michella around, but only to get a negative response. When they thought that maybe the girl was having a stroll by herself into the forest, they decided to look for her.

Ace wanted to finish the matter as quick as possible, because he also had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, repeating the echo of Luffy's exclamation before about the fully repaired pipe. He knew how broken his pipe was, it was simply impossible to polish it back. But Luffy had been really confident in stating the girl's capability in re-shaping the poor staff, despite how close to zero the possibility was.

In the beginning, he only looked for her to make sure that the pipe Luffy held on his hand didn't belong to him. But as the time swifted by, he started to think that the girl was deliberately hiding, hence avoiding them. The idea irritated him more than anything. To make it worse, Luffy kept on spilling his so called _adventure_ with the said girl all the time. It sounded like Luffy really enjoyed his time along with the girl, even though his own older brother wasn't there. Somehow, the thought only served to piss him off furthermore.

But the unexpected walk with the younger somehow had Ace recalled a tid bit of the past, when it was only the three of them together. Ace shook his head. Recalling his dear brother didn't help in his current situation at all, so he needed to stay focus. It would be much easier said if only the girl would show up any second now, because the day was nearing midday and Ace's patience was almost dangerously slipping from his grasp.

"Ace..." Luffy called his name.

"What?" Ace tiredly muttered out, almost sighing at the same time.

"Where do you think Malala had gone to? I'm worried about her," Luffy said with smaller voice than the one he used before.

Ace stopped on his track on hearing the revelation out of the blue. Luffy stopped as well after two steps away. The boy quietly sighed. He didn't care that much about the girl, but Luffy obviously had been too attached to the girl, much to his dismay. He couldn't deny that he didn't like the solemn look Luffy wore, as it rang a bell inside of his head about the terrible past they shared. So he decided on one thing.

"I have no idea, Lu. Hey, how about we check Foosha out? Maybe she's been hanging out there all this time," Ace tried to suggest something, since their travel around the forest had led to no trail of the girl in question.

Hearing that, Luffy was filled with a new kind of joy, the hope that was indicated by the smile reaching his eyes. Somehow, Ace felt that there was more to it than just a simple agreement. If he had to take a wild guess, it might be due to his unlikely open and calm demeanor at the moment, concerning the fact that Ace—out of all people—was willing to look for the so-called Malala girl. Ace could deal with it, as long as his brother was fine.

"Un!" Luffy nodded eagerly. Ace couldn't help but let the little smile slipped. Luckily for him the younger didn't seem to notice. So they began to walk toward the route they often took to reach Foosha village.

* * *

Ace never thought that keeping his short span patience at bay could be pretty hard. True that he was the one who had suggested to look for the missing girl in Foosha village, but the travel in between was the one that annoyed him the most.

His little brother had decided to continue his story, quiet oblivious to the growing pissed-off look on him. Ace didn't even register the peculiar parts of the story concerning the girl, due to his complicated feelings inside-annoyed, neglected, distant, and somewhat lonely. Self restraint was a new thing to him, since he used to express all of his inner turmoil out. It took every fiber of his being not to shut Luffy down with a burst of his usual one.

Fortunately for him, when they finally reached the outskirts of the village, Luffy ended his babble, and was somehow distracted with a mysteriously nice scent of meats being grilled. Ace caught the sweet scent as well, and he would be lying if he said he was not tempted by the underlying invitation of the smell. So two pairs of feet led the two owners automatically to where the tasty smell came from without any spoken agreement beforehand. It was near late afternoon after all. That and the fact that the last thing they ate was in the early morning back in Dadan's country.

But before they could find the meat, Ace caught something from the corner of his eyes. Or rather, a group of people inside an open small bar. They were the scoundrels from Edge Town, the ones who had managed to make injuries all over his body without mercy. Upon seeing the laughing thugs, Ace felt his blood boiled with rage. He decided that if he backed down at that moment, he would deem himself lower than those scoundrels. He needed a place to put out his frustration he had long endured, and the bastards were just at the right time and place to be one.

"Luffy, you go on ahead," he said to Luffy, who was already at the corner.

The younger looked back and pouted, "Eeh? What's wrong, Ace? Let's go together~ The smell is tasty, and it's near! Come on!"

Ace didn't even bat an eye to the whining Luffy as he only said, "I have something to settle with. I'll be right back to you."

Luffy was silent, he had no idea what could stop his brother from the nice, inevitable smell of meats. He knew he couldn't, so he waved his brother off. "Okay then. I'll go. Ace be hurry, okay?" he said before storming off somewhere, without waiting for any answer.

Now that Ace was alone, he felt the push within him to approach the scoundrels and to quickly give them his sweet little revenge. Surely he could never forgive the nasty deeds they'd done on him back in Edge Town. Without so much of any thoughts, he stepped inside.

No one noticed his presence the first step he had after passing the open door. He never stopped though. He kept on walking until he was right before the circle where the group centered around. There was a round wooden table at the center, and the one he recognize as their leader was sitting right across him. That was when the said person saw Ace in the eyes.

"Oi, oi, look who's coming to see me again. It's Ace! Kehahaha, I thought you were dead, kid! You sure are tough, little one! Kehahahaha!" he said, making people around him aware of the eleven year old as well. Several people were openly shocked by the fact that the kid was alive, but then following the laughter of their leader. Several other were new to Ace though.

The laughter eventually died down, then the man spoke again, "You're so quite today. Have you lost your voice, kid? Hm?"

Ace's eyes were sharp and unwavering when he said, "I come to get my revenge."

Hearing that, after a split second of silence, the scoundrels let out a fit of loud laughter. They took the kid's statement as a very funny object, despite the deadly serious glare the kid sent their way. The leader spoke after calming down a bit, "You seriously are tough, Ace! It would be a shame cannot having you on our side. You will rot along with this island. Ah! I have an idea!"

The men around him perked at the mention of their boss' idea, some even urged the man to spill it quickly. Ace, on the other hand, was narrowing his eyes. _"What's it again now?"_ he thought. Since he would end up fighting them later, he would at least listen to the man's last words.

The man smirked as he said, "Why don't you come with us this time, Ace? We're going out of this island and heading to a far better place. If you agree, we will be best buddies for sure. Quite a nice offer, isn't it? How's that sound to you?"

"Boss! That's a great idea!"

"You're right, Boss! Join us, Acey!"

"Yeah! Come with us! It'll be exciting, yahaha!"

Exclamations filled the air as they were speaking loudly. Ace's eyes got even more narrow and sharp than before. After a few seconds, Ace closed his eyes and sighed. The room went silent, getting the sign that the kid would soon say something. When Ace opened his eyes, he wore unreadable expression. "You want to know my answer?"

"Of course! Just tell us, kid!" the man in charge spoke.

Ace grinned. In a split second, he turned his body to the left, moving his body down while his right leg swung to kick the wooden table, directly sent the hard surface to the man's smiling face sitting across him. The blow sent the man to the floor, along with the upside down table that pressed his body down. The man, whose eyes were white, and no sound coming from him, was unconscious from the impact. Ace grinned wider. "That's my answer, bastards."

The other men were instantly raged upon seeing their defeated boss, eyeing the kid with hate. Some people threw insults at him, before finally charged to the kid's way with loud shrills, attempting to avenge their leader.

Ace, without so much of difficulty, got out of the way swiftly. He was a natural fighter to begin with, and he knew that competing against angry adults gave him the upper hand since it became fairly easy to read their movement. Ace made sure that this time he would be careful to his surrounding, since he needed to finish them off, quick and clean if possible.

And when he said quick, he really attempted to end it faster, so he couldn't play with them. Luffy was wandering alone, and he couldn't let that happen for long. Luffy was equivalent to walking potential disaster. The task might not be too hard for him, as he easily knocked down quite a number just after several minutes since he began the bar fight.

However, when he was still busy dealing with the more tough ones, the boss woke up, alerting them by sending the table above him to the wall. The fight somehow came to an abrupt stop, even Ace, who was surrounded by three people in the corner, froze in his spot. The man went to sit on the floor, rubbing his face with right hand and groaning painfully. When he saw his hand, he saw thick red liquid on it. What came after that was something unexpected. He loudly laughed.

"Kehahahaha! Kehahaha! Kehahahahaha! Shoot, I was a little off-guard there! Kehahaha! You've done a pretty good job so far, kid. And it's all by yourself! Keha! We should really take you with us. Off this rotten island! Kehaha!" the man spoke in between his laughter.

 _"_ _This guy is crazy,"_ Ace thought.

"B-boss!" his subordinates protested, disagreement loud in their voices.

However, the man seemed to ignore them. Instead he stared hard at Ace's unwavering eyes. He said, "Let's sail out, kid! We'll become pirates and roam the sea together! We'll go to Grand Line and conquer it! Kehaha!"

Hearing that, Ace was left dumbstruck for a second. But he wasn't the only one, as the men around him was also in the same state. Their mouths were agape, and shock was written all over their faces.

"B-boss? You ain't serious, right?"

"But you never said we're going to Grand Line!?"

"Pirates? Boss, you're joking, ain't ya?"

The boss' fist slammed the wooden floor hard. With higher voice, he spoke, "Keha! That guy sure did a great job at convincing me. It's so promising, being a pirate. Doing whatever you want, getting all the golds! Who knows, I might just stumble upon One Piece itself and be the new pirate king! The last one was suck after all! Kehahahaha!"

At that point, Ace's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. He slowly said in low voice, "Pirate king, you said?"

"Right, kid. The man who had everything. Fame, wealth, anything related with being a pirate king. And he was from East Blue as well! I can become one as well, don't you think?"

Ace kept on glaring daggers to the mad man before him. He said with low voice, "So you don't hate the pirate king then?"

"Keha! Do I hate him, you ask? Of course, I hate him! Everyone hate him! He was one of many sick people out there that steered the world into such a bad place! He rose an era that brought along devils by the time of his death! But maybe I can thank him for leaving such a grant treasure behind. Kehaha!" said the man between his fit of laughter.

Between his gritted teeth, Ace muttered slowly, "And you still aim to be the next pirate king?"

"Ah, right! I can be the next pirate king and bring peace to the world. Won't it be great, Ace? I'll be the next pirate king!" the man roared loudly.

While Ace and the boss were having a stare down, the men left standing were trembling on their feet. It was a shocking revelation to hear that their boss had agreed to become a pirate, bringing along the men on his side without them knowing the deal. So they only stood there, not knowing whether to run away or stay.

On Ace's side, he was honestly disgusted by the man before him, it was almost pitiful to see the man. He knew such man could never be a great pirate, much more unlikely the pirate king. Rather than a mere thug like him, Ace could easily picture Luffy instead as the future pirate king. So he made a decision.

"Fine then. Before that could happen, I should beat you up right in this moment."

* * *

To say the bar fight ended up bad would be a terrible understatement. It was downright the worst bar fight to ever happen in the village. The broken wooden tables and chairs were scattered on the floor, shreds of glasses were littering the dirty wooden surface, and people were lying around like a group of dead men. No one was conscious at the moment, save for the bar owner who was hiding at the top of the staircase, still recovering from the shock of his unexpected loss of his usually quiet bar. He didn't dare to go down just yet, despite the total silence for the last ten minutes.

However, after the long stretched silence, a steady foot steps were heard from the missing front door. They were coming from a tall man in brown suit, with black sunglasses on, had short curly black hair and expressionless face. When he entered the messy bar, he swept his eyes around the room. Once he saw the man he was looking for, he slowly approached the man.

The man stopped right before the leader of the group, who laid with his back touching the counter. He seemed to regain consciousness when he suddenly coughed up blood to his lap. After that, he looked up to see someone standing. His sight was blurry at first, but when he recognize the brown suit of a tall man, he knew who was standing before him.

"My, my. What had happened to you? You look... defeated. What a pitiful sight," the tall man said with light voice.

"Aah. It's you. Keha," he said then coughed twice, before continuing, "You see, a tough kid was making all this mess on us. I don't know any other kid that can be as brutal as him. Keha. I was trying to take him with us, if he had agreed, it would've been a great..." he stopped suddenly when a fit of painful cough was replacing his words. "It would've been a great thing. Now that he turned down the offer, I swear he will regret it. Kehaha."

The man in suit looked down quietly as he observed the man before him. "Hmm? Is that so? I'm curious about this kid. Could you tell me more about him?"

"That kid, I swear he won't be any older than twelve, yet he fight ferociously like wild animal. He, he has black hair and black eyes that seem to pierce through everything. He's incredibly tough for a kid. He often fights and creates troubles, he was known in the city as trouble maker. Last time we met, I thought he was done. Yet he's back completely fine, and mocking us like this. Aah, and his name is Ace. What a brat, huh. Keha. Keha," he said before coughing once again.

"That is indeed an interesting boy. I wish I could meet him," the tall man responded with calm voice, albeit his face remained expressionless.

"Don't you worry. Next time I meet him, I'll beat him up 'till he beg for my mercy."

The tall man, whose composure was calm throughout the exchange, at that moment winced with something akin to disgust. He said, "Rather than that, shouldn't you worry about your life instead? Shouldn't you be the one who beg for mercy?"

The wounded man only showed confusion. "What for?"

The tall man, without bothering to answer the question first, swung his leg right into the side of the man's skull. The force was surprisingly tremendous, as the man was sent flying into the wall. The impact had the man's body smashed into the hard wood. His body remained motionless.

"For I don't need a weakling like you in my ship."

The man in suit turned around, he walked calmly while his hand reached for a white handkerchief placed inside the suit. He knelt down and swept the fabric around his shoe, the one that had kicked the man in the head. After a while, he stood and walked outside, leaving the cloth on the floor instead. Outside, he whispered to himself, "Ace, hm? I'd like to meet him for sure."

* * *

 **Hellow~ people~**

 **It's been a long time~ (not really that long, but I kind of feel it's been long)**

 **Here you go, a really long chapter after several weeks of my absent. And..., it's started people. It finally is started! I'm looking forward to write more and more of my little girl. Even though I still have like, 7 freaking days of school exam left. What's important is, the national ones have been conducted, and so the biggest hurdle has been jumped. At least my heart is a little bit (a lot) at ease.**

 **Thanks for everyone who reads/follows/favs this story of mine. Thank you sooo much! By the way, I kind of feel like disappointed to you guys. I feel happy for knowing you read and follow and even favorite my stories, but still I need feedback from you. I need to know about what you think about the stories. Are they fine? Are they lacking something? What do I need to improve to make it better? I keep on writing because I want to write, but I don't know how are my works to the readers. You know that proverbs, right. "Author is fed of reviews". Or something like that.**

 **Okay, so... I'll keep writing between my studying time, hope I can write faster and update regularly, since I have many more fanfics inside my head that is waiting in line to be written, and I'm excited to write them.**

 **That's it for now. Feel free to drop any comments~**

 **Dadah, fellas~**

 **04/10/2016**

 **-Mei Evelyn**


	11. Chapter 11: The Unexpected Turn

**"** **The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

 _In previous chapter: Luffy found the repaired pipe, gleefully showing it to his brother. However, Ace refused to acknowledge the pipe as his, as it was impossible for him. When they decided to ask the girl, she was nowhere to be found. They couldn't find her in the forest, so they went to Foosha Village. Inside a bar, Ace saw the scoundrels of Edge Town, and felt the need to avenge his previous lost. After hearing the mad man's exclamation about being a pirate king, Ace could no longer hold himself. He left the bar, leaving a group of defeated men. After a while, a tall man in brown suit came, and finished the thugs boss. He became curious about the boy named Ace, convinced that he'd like to meet him soon._

Ch. 11: The Unexpected Turn

Ace was fine with his work. He beat up the useless scroundrels, kicked their asses and so had delivered his pent up frustration and vengeance upon them. He had walked out of the bar victoriously, leaving no one under his mercy.

But winning didn't ensure he was out unscratched. He was pretty well injured, bruises and cuts from head to toes. A short and bleeding gash marking his left arm, and he thought he had sprained his right wrist. It wasn't a really painful encounter compared to the last one, and since he was the one to make it out this time, Ace didn't register much of the pain. And one thing he was more grateful than anything else was that he stood on his two feet perfectly fine this time. Few scratches didn't escape the skin, but he wasn't walking painfully this time. He wasn't limping on his feet, and he could bear the minor wounds.

However, his successful attempt on inflicting his revenge upon the scroundrels didn't erase his vexation for the day. Instead, after the mention of being a pirate king claimed by the filthy leader thugs, he was becoming more pissed. The thought was really disgusting for him to imagine, moreover the idea of him letting the man go his way. That was why he made sure to beat the pulp out of the man.

During the fight in the bar, Ace had suddenly recalled the time one or two years before, where he still wandered around the city to ask people the question: _What if the Pirate King had an offspring?_ The leader of the thugs had been one of the people he had asked, with a slightly different appearance actually, which had been why he hadn't been able to recognize the man right away. He had been beaten up bitterly as well back in those days, by none other than Ace in his younger age.

So by the time he arrived at Makino's bar—because he just knew that Luffy would end up there without doubt—, he was still not in the mood for everything else that might possibly annoy him furthermore.

"Ace!" Makino's shocked voice sounded through the air when he entered the bar. He couldn't blame her for the shock, not when he came in a pretty much battle tattered condition.

Luffy, who had his back to Ace while sitting before the counter, quickly spun his body around upon hearing his brother's name. "Ace!" he exclaimed.

Makino and Luffy ran to Ace's side, worry crystal clear on their faces. It was convenient that they were the only people inside the bar at the moment.

"Ace! What had happened to you?" Makino asked worriedly.

Ace snorted before he answered, "I was beating up some useless craps. I won, so it's fine."

Makino soften her eyes hearing that statement and sighed slowly. She couldn't say anything about that, so she only said, "Come on, Ace. We need to treat your injuries."

The boy only nodded, and the three of them moved to the kitchen. The boys sat next to each other on the chairs in the room, while Makino got the medicine from a box inside another room. Makino then moved to treat Ace's injuries from the worst one on his left arm.

While Makino was busy on concentrating to treat Ace's wounds, Luffy decided to voice his thoughts, "Ne, Ace. Why were you fighting? I was worry, you didn't come to get the meat at all. I thought you got lost, you know."

Ace scoffed. He said, "I've told you. I was beating a bunch of totally useless bastards. And like I would get lost in this village. You are the one who always makes me worry. Dumb little brother."

Luffy smiled despite the calling, though it didn't reach his eyes and it didn't stay for long. Then his face went solemn. "Ace, Makino said Malala didn't come here. So what should we do?"

Ace cringed. That name mentioned again. It was too soon for the older brother as he was still in a pretty sour mode. "Like I have any idea. Say, why are you so adamant on finding her? I thought she's capable like you said," he retorted with annoyance.

"But she never leave me before! We always go together!" Luffy exclaimed, though it was weak with his quivering voice.

 _And you decided that leaving me behind is easier. You're even this worry not seeing her first thing in the morning,_ Ace thought grimly, furthermore fed up by the fact that the girl managed to tackle down his position to be with his brother. "Yeah, whatever," he grumbled.

Luffy stayed silent. Once Makino finished her task, she announced softly, "There, the last wound. It's done, Ace. You're lucky nothing's major." After that, she went to put back the medicine into its room.

Ace hopped down from the chair. But before the older of the two siblings walked away, he decided to face Luffy and spoke, "I'm going back. How about you, Lu?"

The younger one was shocked and his eyes went bigger, showing that he wasn't ready to hear that. "But, but... We haven't found Malala yet. What about her, Ace?" he said shakily.

Ace sighed. To be honest, he hated to leave Luffy alone, but he felt like done with the day. If his brother insisted on finding the girl, he had to manage it on his own. With the boy's luck, he might just stumble with the girl on the street while talking to a stray cat or something. And Ace didn't really want to waste his time wandering around in search of someone he never actually cared for. That was it. He would go back rather than spending more time there. "Fine. You find her then. I'll just go back by myself. See you, Lu."

Luffy, who looked really confused at Ace's sudden decision to go back, tried to prevent his brother from going by latching his rubbery limbs to Ace's arm, while begging at the same time, "No! Ace, we gotta find Malala together. Ace! Don't go! Ace!"

Ace didn't even spare his attention anymore as he walked his way toward the front exit, even though he had to walk with Luffy glued stubbornly to his arm.

The boy was persistent, just like the way he was, as he kept on chanting, "Ace! Come on! Don't leave me! Malala needs us to find her! Ace!"

Luffy's last statement was somehow hit Ace's nerves more than he usually could bear. He snapped, "Luffy! That girl only needs _you_ to find her! You've become close to each other, right? While I don't care about her! Why should I find her? She's only close to you after all! You find her without me, Lu." He shook Luffy off his hand by pushing his way out of the boy's tangled grip and pushing the boy away until he was on the ground.

When Luffy was still on the floor, Ace quickly ran his way out of the bar and went all the way until he was in an intersection of road. He took turn and slowed down his pace. Ace only needed to be outside the boy's sight from the bar, in case he followed his older brother.

On his way back to the forest, Ace let out a heavy sigh. He knew he couldn't go back to Luffy at the moment, due to his stubborn side currently kicked in. He felt exhausted somehow, not exactly from the previous bar fight, but more to his own feeling that fed him up.

He had promised to take care of Luffy, his and Sabo's little brother, but here he was, walking away from the said subject himself. It was so complicated for him to decide as of late, that he wasn't so sure anymore whether he made a right decision or not. Not that he always made the right one before, but at least he always made sure to face off whatever he was against. Now though, he couldn't see the end of his problem. While his mind was looking for a way to sort out the complicated stuffs, his feet brought him back to the hut in Mt. Colubo, never turning his back even once.

* * *

Michella felt like cursing her luck for the day. After she had fully collected her mind to quietly leave last night, she had also decided to leave as soon as possible from the island. However, she didn't know that it was not the best time of the year for any sailor to visit the island or any merchant to sail out. Since early morning she had stationed herself near the port, she had only encountered fishermen who went back and fort. She couldn't use any chance to steal a boat since, somehow, there were guards standing and walking around. It was unusual for them to do so, there must be a reason to it. A reason that Michella hadn't had the time to figure out what.

After she went to fetch some apples in the closest market, by stealing of course since money was out of question, she went back to the valley where she had been watching the port the entire morning. She quietly munched on her brunch while thinking about her next plan. She needed a way to sail out, any way would do, as long as it took her somewhere else. But for the time being, there was a huge spectacle before her. There was a high possibility to loot a boat with her ability of stealth, but with the guards it reduced quite a number, added with the fact that it was a glaring daylight in the open port.

She needed information. Any information might be a new lead for her, especially since she was currently clueless of the situation around and what to do to get her goal done. So after she finished her quick snacking, she moved closer to the port, toward the farthest end of the port outer line where two guards stood side by side while having a conversation. She positioned herself behind several small barrels in a valley which she sneaked herself into, and if one of the barrels moved a bit closer to the valley's opening, no one noticed the change.

It was still hard to clearly hear the two guards' conversation from that corner, due to the low voices they preferred and Michella didn't want to risk moving any closer lest she wanted to be seen. She was always better with her eyesight rather than hearing. But for the time being, she had to settle with the situation.

At first she had to strain her ears to catch the words being said, but then she found out a better way. She moved the barrel that cover her existence a bit to the side, allowing her to peek out from the little space between the wall and the barrel itself. It gave her the opportunity to observe the two men's moving mouths, so she could assess more words while hearing them at the same time.

In the beginning of her silent intrusion between their chat, she hardly got any useful information. They only spoke about their daily life, family, recent works and such. But since going anywhere else might only give her the same case, she decided to stay put. Even though it might be a futile attempt in the end, this was her best chance to know anything.

After some time filled with light talks, two trips to bathroom, a lunch break where they were given two bowls of something that produced steam from another guard, and another small talks, the two men finally reached the conversation about how they ended up guarding the port rather than the usual task they were assigned into. It was late afternoon, and despite missing her lunch, Michella still felt grateful that her patience was finally paid off.

"Ah, such a bother to be a guard, right? It's a boring job, and now we're even posted in the port, out of all places," said one man.

"Yeah, you're right. It's boring as hell. There's nothing we can do except standing here all day long. Ah, I wanna go home already," said the other.

"Oi, by the way, did you hear the commotion this morning at the observation tower? I heard because of their report for the last night finding that we were sent to guard the port," whispered one guy to the other while checking his surrounding. Too bad he was missing the observing eyes behind a certain barrel.

"What is it? I didn't get to hear anything! Oi, spill it out, will you?" the other urged his fellow guard to tell him.

"Fine, I'll tell you. Well, the thing I heard is that they saw a suspicious ship near the bay around midnight, sailing toward the city. But before they could notice anyone, the ship changed course. They assumed that maybe they had wanted to anchor at this port, but somehow changed their mind. It seemed that they sailed to that village, aah, what was the name again? Fish village? Fisha village? Something like that."

"It's Foosha, I think."

"Right! That one, dude. But the higher-ups didn't want to risk anything, so they sent us here, in case the ship sails back here."

"I see. But what kind of ship that is able to make those scary guys up there worry, huh? I wonder. Was it bad?"

"It's not only bad, dude. The ship is a bad omen to those who see it! The ship had a black flag and skull on it! It was a pirate ship, man!"

The other guy was so shocked that his weapon almost slipped from his loose grasp. He stammered, "Wha-what? A pirate ship? No way we can fight them!"

"I know right?! It is the worst ship of all!"

On the contrary of the two men's view, Michella thought, _No, it's not the worst. I had been sailing in the worst ship of all kinds. Pirate ship is a far better option to be aboard._ With that in mind, she decided that checking the said pirate ship was her best option for the time being. The main reason was because once the ship departed, it wouldn't come back. She only needed to be quiet and nicely hidden somewhere in the ship. She could think of a way when the time approach.

She made up her mind to go to Foosha Village, with a new plan to sneak into the said pirate ship. It might be dangerous, but she had done a more dangerous mission before, which she managed to get it crossed without getting killed or found out, so she had confident for this plan. She still made sure to be extra careful and not to drop her guard down for a split second, since she knew the risk she was betting on the line.

But before anything, she needed to refill her stomach. So before she moved on to her next plan, she slipped herself out of the valley and into the food section in the market. She was the type that liked food, but she also could hold her appetite if the situation highly required so. But with her current situation, of course she could have a plate of a real meal or two. Or maybe more. Without having people close to her when she was eating her food was a really good thing for her, so she could get as much food as she wanted, like the time back in her old home.

* * *

Michella must admit that she ate a bit too much than what was necessary. She couldn't help it, she missed her lunch, and the small eatery she happened to visit was serving a really delicious meals she didn't have the will to refuse. So she helped herself by getting the food on the kitchen. She might feel pleasantness throughout the silent exchange, though she didn't give anything in return for the eatery, that she spent more time than what she had expected. By the time she was finished, it was already dusk. And in case she couldn't sneak around to get anymore food later in the night, she stuffed two breads inside her side pockets of her brown trousers.

In a small valley, she inspected her pipe closely despite having dark shadow loomed over the place. It was in a good condition as always. She tried to change the plain linear shape into a simple trident, which she managed quite easily. Satisfied with the result, she changed it back into a common looking pipe. After all the quick preparation, she moved out.

She didn't know the route to the Foosha Village from the city, but she knew that both places met the sea, which meant that if she moved along the outskirts of the island toward the general direction of Foosha, her arrival to the village could almost be certain. She was glad she had studied direction in her early age, lest she had no idea of where to go.

Luckily, she didn't encounter any wild animal along the way, might be due to the approaching night and all the animals lived far within the forest. She could be faster with what she was capable of doing, but she had to spent much energy on maintaining the motion, and it had been a long time since the last time she used that technique. Either way, it would still lead her to the same destination, so she chose to just walk down the path.

The whole travel took nearly an hour until finally she caught the sight of the village's small port from afar. However, the sight betrayed her wish. There wasn't any ship anchored around the port, not a single pirate ship at least. Her heart immediately dropped. She cursed her luck twice for the day. Had it been because she spent too much on eating her late lunch before? Nah, just her bad luck. Nothing could blame food for anything.

She slowed down her pace due to the unexpected unfortunate event. She just walked aimlessly for the time being, and she had no idea where her feet brought her to. But then something caught her eyes in the distance. At the front of a certain building, the one that she immediately recognized as Makino's bar, there was a crowd of people. She didn't know most of them, but she sure knew Makino's face in there.

Makino was crying. Michella almost couldn't believe her eyes, but she knew not to doubt her eyesight in spite of relatively far distance and the lack of sufficient light at the moment. She was genuinely brought to shock and worry as she saw the face, which was always been adorned with delicate motherly smile, was covered with tears at the moment.

She didn't know when her feet had decided to move faster toward the small crowd, but by the time she realized the change of her surrounding, she was already standing in front of Makino. She looked at Makino in the eyes, clearly seeing the droplets of sadness from the woman's eyes as it fell down her cheeks. She didn't miss the shocked expression on the older female's features.

"Michella!" Makino exclaimed, immediately pulling the girl into her embrace as she knelt down. "Thank goodness, you're alright!" she said, relieved at the sudden appearance of the missing girl in question. Both of them didn't notice the people around, as they asked each other who was the little girl that appeared out of nowhere. They were even more perplexed at the response Makino was giving, that it seemed like they knew each other already.

Michella wriggled out from the embrace, but the older refused to completely let go of the child. She let confusion showed on her face, a way to question what was going on.

Makino caught the silent message sent her way, then she glanced downward. Her voice was only above whisper as she said, "Luffy was looking for you all day, you know. He was worried about you, Michella."

The girl's eyes went bigger at the revelation. It wasn't that she didn't see it coming, in fact she had a hunch that the boy would try to look for her. What worried her was the fact that Makino was currently crying, and the mention of Luffy in her statement rang a bell that something must happen with the boy's well being. In the middle of his search for her, Luffy might just stumble upon something extremely dangerous that it took away Makino's smile. When she glanced around in a vain attempt to look for the straw hat boy, Makino slowly put her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"He came to me this afternoon to ask if I saw you around. He told me that you went missing ever since this morning. He said that even though he had to look for you alone, he would still do it. But around an hour ago he came back to my place by himself. He still insisted to search for you though, but I convinced him to stay the night at my place. But then," Makino paused for a while to brush the fresh tears that escaped her eyes, then continued her story, "Then those people came to the bar. I didn't know who they were, so I just greeted them. But they walked to Luffy and caught him instead. It was so sudden that Luffy even lost the pipe in his hands. I couldn't do anything when they brought him out."

* * *

 ** _-A while ago-_**

"Let me go, you bastards!" Luffy said as he flailed the air with his body. Both of his hands were being held by a tall guy tightly, it made him hard to move around with his body up above the floor.

Two men snickered at the straw hat boy. One guy, who was shorter than the other, the one who wasn't holding the boy, spoke, "No can do, little brat. You will come with us, and that's decided. Don't worry, we won't hurt you." His right hand was holding onto a pistol loosely, but it still gave away the threatening vibes.

Then Makino spoke up pleadingly, "Where do you want to bring him to? Please, can you just leave him alone, I'll give you anything you want."

The two men perked at the implication, but after they exchanged glances between themselves, they sighed and shook their heads. The shorter guy said, "Look, _nee-chan_. Your offer is so tempting for us, but the one who sent us here wants this little boy. He's one hell of a scary guy, so we won't dare to defy his order."

The other guy said, "Yeah, right. We need to deliver this boy to our boss unless we want to be executed right away. I'm so sorry, miss, but we have to decline your offer."

Without warning, Luffy spun his body around and flung one of his feet to the man's face. However it barely hit the man's jaw, which in return get him a furious glare. Luffy fought back by sending him a hated glare of his own.

Unexpectedly, the guy smirked triumphantly. He called his friend over and said, "Look at this boy. He definitely is the one that the boss wants! Look at the glare! Right, right?" He swung the boy a bit to the side as his friend inspected him over.

The way the two men treated Luffy made the boy glare more heatedly. But somehow, it received another unexpected reaction. The short guy laughed with something akin to satisfaction. The other guy giggled in response.

"It must be right! The description suits him perfectly! A little boy no more than twelve, black hair, black eyes, fierce and tough! Now he even sends us a perfect glare! How lovely."

"You, bastards! Cowards! Let me go!" Luffy said as he tried to free himself by moving around.

The tall guy said mockingly, "How unfortunate of you that we can't afford to let you go. Dude, give him that thing."

The other guy moved closer, and somehow his other hand was occupied by a syringe with a clear-looking liquid inside. "Don't worry. It will sting a bit, but you'll be find," he said, having a sinister smile at the same time.

Luffy was trying to get away, but the tall guy was quick to grasp both of his feet and held it in place. There was nothing he could do once the needle stung the skin on his neck. He heard Makino said something, but he failed to understand the words that sounded so distant as his surrounding, slowly but sure, went completely black.

* * *

 **Yo! It's been long time! It's Mei again!**

 **I am so sorry that it took me nearly a month to update, since I was finishing the last school exams, and the following days were filled with me coaching my underclassmen, so I was still having a hard time to actually write my stories. I won't abandon any of my story, like I've said, I have so many big things to write about my stories. I just need more time. I'm still having the college entrance exam by next week, but I'm not as busy as before, so I write some. Though it was hard starting to write suddenly after several time of not writing at all. I still managed though, so it's fine I think. Tell me if you find anything wrong.**

 **As usual, thanks for those who read/follow/fav this story. I know I'm slow, so if you could bear with me, it will greatly ease my mind. Feel free to drop any comment^^**

 **By the way, today (May 6th) I'm officially an older teenager! Two best friends of mine suddenly came this afternoon to celebrate my birthday, and now I have a new pair of slipper, a small emergency light, and something which I don't know what to name xP It was fun with them, just talking, eating, watching youtube, laughing together xD**

 **That's it for today, I won't give you anymore pointless notes don't worry.**

 **Dadah, fellas~**

 **05/06/2016**

 **Edited (just a tiny bit of some words correction): 05/27/2016**

 **-Mei Evelyn**


	12. Chapter 12: The Pursuit

**"** **The Outcast** **s** **"**

 **(c) Mei Evelyn**

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

 _In previous chapter: After Ace managed to walk out of the bar fight victoriously, he went to Makino's bar, to where Luffy definitely went into. Once his injuries were treated, he told Luffy that he would go back to the bandit's hut. Luffy refused to go, as they hadn't found Michella. In the end, Ace left Luffy alone. On the other hand, the missing girl in question was in the city, looking for a way to get off the island. She decided a pirate ship that might had anchored at the Foosha Village would be her best chance. However, when she arrived at the village, she didn't see any pirate ship around. What even worse was the unexpected turn where Luffy was caught by two strangers, brought to a certain someone by rendering him unconscious._

Ch. 12: The Pursuit

By the time Ace arrived at the bandit's hut in the mountain, they were busy doing chores around the house. When Magra noticed the boy walking closer, he called out to him and told him to have some meals inside. But Ace didn't feel like eating at the moment, so he went straight to his own country and laid there. He was looking up at the uneven ceiling, but his mind was wandering everywhere.

He knew some things had changed after Sabo had to leave them forcefully. It had been inevitable at that moment, and so were the outcome afterwards. The circumstances had shifted again after a certain girl had entered their little circle. Luffy quickly became attached with the said girl, leaving Ace with no option but to step aside. He didn't give a care about the silent girl, and it looked like she had the mutual feeling about him as well. And Luffy seemed to be hyped around her, to the point that he lost his usual vibrant of joy without the girl's presence.

Maybe Dadan was right, maybe Ace was jealous after all. Or maybe he was simply being selfish and stubborn. Sometimes Ace felt like slapping himself in the head.

Ace had no idea when exactly his eyes closed, but when he opened them, it was because the noise outside. He heard his name being mentioned in the hasty conversation, and he thought he recognized Makino's voice in there. He walked out of his country, seeing Makino talking to Dadan and the others right in front of the hut's door. He noticed that it was night already.

Dogra was the one to notice him first. "Ace!"

"Ace!" Makino exclaimed.

"What's wrong, Makino? Where's Luffy?" Ace felt dread found its way to his throat, quickly catching the worry and fear in the woman's eyes. If something bad happened to Luffy, he would feel extremely guilty for leaving him alone.

"Ace, Luffy is kidnapped! I'm so sorry, I couldn't do anything to prevent them," Makino sobbed, clearly blaming herself.

Ace knew better, it was initially his fault in the first place. But it wasn't the right time to dwell in regret when his little brother was probably in danger. He said, "Where are they taking him to?"

"They sailed to the sea right after they had made Luffy unconscious. Michella is chasing them right now," Makino explained while trying to keep herself from crying.

"What? That girl?" Ace said in obvious shock.

"Yes. She came a bit later, and after I told her, she went immediately to the port. I tried to prevent her from going by herself, but she didn't stop. When I reached the port, she was sailing already. That's why I went here to tell you."

"Dammit, Luffy!" Ace cursed. He really needed to move fast. But when he was almost running, Makino's hand grabbed him.

"Ace, here's your pipe. Luffy lost it when those men captured him. He had said beforehand that it's yours," she said while showing Ace the said pipe.

Ace stared at the pipe and said with a bit of annoyance, "It's not my pipe. It probably belongs to that girl."

"Really? But Michella had her pipe when I saw her before. Then is it Luffy's pipe?" Makino furrowed her eyebrows.

Ace didn't know what made him grab the pipe as he said, "Is it the only pipe he brought?"

"Yes, he only had one on him. Why?" Makino asked.

Instead of answering, Ace turned around and went to Luffy's small hut next to his, finding the one pipe that belonged to Luffy on the floor. Ace cursed loudly, and went to take a bolt towards Foosha village. He heard Dadan and the other bandits calling out to him to wait, but Ace couldn't bother to stop. He needed to rescue his little brother, lest he would feel guilty for the rest of his life.

* * *

The first thing Luffy felt after he regained his conscious was thirst and hunger. But the feeling of thirst was worse that his throat felt like burned in a split second in his wake. He tried to wet it by swallowing, but the sudden and hasty movement only served to make him choke, making a way to a coughing fit.

"Oya, oya, the boy is awake. Tell the captain, quickly," a stranger said, the hoarse voice coming from before him.

Luffy went alert immediately. He opened his eyes, trying to remove the blurred vision by blinking rapidly. Soon, he was able to see clearly. One man was just getting out of the room, while another man was standing several steps away from where he was sitting. He recognized that face, he was the tall guy that had captured him in Makino's bar. Seeing Makino wasn't around to be seen, he exclaimed, "You, ugly bastard! What did you do to Makino?!"

The guy snickered and said, "Hehe, that's quite impressive of you to worry about the other before yourself. Look around you, boy. We ain't in land anymore. And don't worry about miss Makino, because we didn't do anything to her, sadly."

Luffy then took his time to check his surrounding, which told him no clue of where he was currently. It was a small wooden room, with a couple of big and small barrels on both sides and nothing else. His instinct told him to knock the guy aside and run, but when he tried to move, only then he realized that his hands were tied behind him. But he was already on his way to stand, so it was too late to prevent the incident. He fell flat on his front and face.

"Ackkh!" Luffy croaked. He tried to get up but led to no avail. His effort somehow humored the other guy in the room. He ignored the guy entirely in favor of keep trying, which of course only making the guy burst into laughter.

"Be quiet, will you," another man ordered as he entered the room, along with a shorter underling. He was the man in brown suit, coming in with firm composure and commanding voice, that it event sent the guy in guard slightly cowering to the side.

Luffy was quite the opposite. He was oblivious to the new arrival as he was wriggling his body on the floor, still trying to get up on his own. About a minute later he managed to push his body off the floor, sitting back to his initial spot. Upon seeing other new faces on the room, he growled, "Let me go, you bad guys!"

The man in brown suit said, "Oh, wait, wait, boy. We're not bad guys like you think. I am indeed sorry for what my subordinates did to you back then, but it was due to my order to get you. I wanted to see you, so you can say I invited you to my ship. Since I figured that you're quite the rascal in your town, I have no choice but to bring you here by force. But don't worry, I have a really nice offer for you, boy."

Luffy gritted his teeth. Something inside his head screamed that the guy was definitely a bad guy, there was no way he wasn't one. He yelled, "I don't believe you! You're a bad guy, right! I'm gonna kick your ass for threatening Makino! Let me go, bastards!" He said that while throwing a tantrum, _trying_ in his case, because kicking the air wildly was the farthest he could do in his position.

However, Luffy's words were taken as an empty threat as the two underlings were giggling in response, while the man in authority only smirked.

"I'm expecting no less from a boy who had outdone a group of far older men. The sole reason I bring you into my ship. Well now, to prove your worth then. Release him," he ordered.

The unexpected command drained out the fun in the two guys' faces. One of them managed to voice their confusion, "Release him, captain?"

The man sighed slowly, "Yes, dumbasses. Release the boy, quick."

With that, the two of them moved in a rush towards Luffy, letting the rope loose from the boy's hands. Once he was freed from the knot, he didn't waste his time. He gave the short guy a punch square in the face, who in sequence cried in shock while covering the place he felt the most pain. Luffy immediately went for the other guy, but he missed his aim as the guy stood up and stepped back from him. He got into fighting stance, baring his teeth all the while.

Luffy knew he needed to get out of the place, but with three persons currently circling around him, he couldn't simply run away. He had to fight his way out. No time to be scared at the moment. At least he couldn't show it, though he wasn't sure if he could conceal his feeling good enough. He was weak in the knees, and his fists were slightly trembling.

Frankly speaking, Luffy was afraid.

He felt insecure without any of his siblings around, and he didn't even have his pipe to put up more defense. He was facing three persons that practically beat him only by the size. Not that he never faced adults, he did a lot of that, but in totally different circumstance. He had been with his brothers before, and he had never gone alone in fights, he never had the need to look out for his back. This time, he couldn't stop the feeling of dread crawling up his throat.

"You, little shit! How dare you hit me!" the short guy wailed, standing on his two feet after recovering from the shock.

"Captain, what should we do now? Should we catch and tie him again?" the other guy asked the man.

The captain of the ship stepped back and leaned his body leisurely on the closed door, hands folded in front of his chest, and calmly said, "Why don't you decide it yourself then? I'll watch how you deal with the boy. I'm merely curious about him after all."

The tall subordinate glanced to his shorter comrade at the other side of the room, before he put his attention back to Luffy and said mockingly, "Let's get him then. Let's see how good you are, little boy."

That was the last sign for Luffy before the two guys charged at him at the same time. He was grateful for his quick instinct to roll forward, quickly getting back to his feet once he was a few steps away.

The two opponents didn't let Luffy rest, as both of them moved closer towards him, cornering the eight years old in no time. Seeing he had no other way, he decided to throw his punch farther this time. He was aiming for the tall guy, but due to the lack of control, he only managed to hit the shoulder. But his move resulted a startled reaction from the others.

"What?!" the two underlings exclaimed in obvious shock.

"Hmm, so he's a devil fruit user? Interesting," the captain mumbled under his breath, quietly observing from his spot.

The recoil of his limb was almost knocking him back, he hardly endured it. But he miraculously stopped the momentum, lest he would allow himself captured easily. But the situation still wasn't in his favor, so he readied himself for the next attack. This time, he was aiming the short guy who was still gaping at the incredulous scene of the rubber boy. With a bit of luck on his side, Luffy hit the guy right in the eye, making the guy stumbled back. He covered his right eye while shouting in pain.

However, the tall guy had recovered from the shock of the rubber ability Luffy had, so before the stretched limb could recoil completely to its owner, he successully snatched it midair. He smirked evilly to Luffy, who went pale at the cold grip. Then he pulled the small hand, pulling the boy closer as well.

Out of a sudden rush of panic, Luffy threw his other hand to the guy's face. But the outcome wasn't for the better, as the guy caught it easily. With both of his hands tight on the guy's clutch, he tried to pull back with all of his strength. He clenched his teeth hard until it bleed, but he wasn't a match to the older guy. He felt a sudden tug to his entire being, and a split second later he was in the air. He closed his eyes shut as his body was sent directly to the other side of the room. He ended up crashing into several barrels, the hard impact actually smashing down the wooden objects. Luffy coughed hard, his small body whimpered at the painful collision. Albeit his vision was blurry, he glared at the snickering guy before him. Though with his condition, he lost the bite in it.

"Still trying to kill me by the death glare, I see. How frightening," the guy made fun at Luffy. He was walking closer towards the straw hat boy, who couldn't go anywhere at his state.

"Wait," said the short guy, suddenly holding back his comrade by gripping him in the shoulder.

"I see you're back. So what now?" the tall guy asked him lazily.

"Ha! You think I'll back down with that weak punch?! No freaking way! Let me show him the proper way then," the shorter male then made his way to Luffy, lifted him up by the shirt. He grinned wickedly, before sending a full force punch to the boy. The blow sent Luffy's body flying, but the guy didn't let go of his shirt.

"How's that, punk?!" the guy shouted, satisfied.

The dangling boy was biting the inside of his cheeks to prevent himself from screaming in pain. His voice was weak when he said, "It doesn't hurt. Not at all."

"Oh, really? Then take another one!" the guy said as he flung his hardened fist to Luffy.

The blunt force knocked Luffy right in the head, and he started to feel extremely dizzy. His lips were trembling as he croaked, "Doesn't hurt. No, not at all."

Another solid beating was sent his way.

"Not a bit. Not hurt," he bit harder, drawing more blood from his lips.

A punch square in his gut.

He coughed out some blood. "I'm rubber. Won't hurt at all," he shakily whimpered.

The guy before him was totally red out of spite. He growled, "Such a stubborn useless kid."

It was then that he pulled out a knife from a space in his belt. He flung it without a single thread of hesitation. He was certain that his blade would rip through the boy's stomach, but a voice stopped him right before it had the chance to tear the skin.

"Stop." The order was clear, firm and unwavering. It was none other than the captain himself. The short male didn't want to, but he couldn't defy the man. He just had to, if he still held his life precious.

The captain himself was now moving from his spot closer to where they were standing. When he was close enough, he gave signal to his underling to give him the boy, which the guy complied right away.

On the other hand, Luffy was having a hard time on focusing his vision. The way he was held up in the air made him feel disorientated, and the higher altitude than the former height didn't do him any better.

The captain of the ship took his time to inspect the boy before his eyes. The entire body of the boy was quivering, several parts of his face was started to get swollen slightly, he was also bleeding unnecessarily, and it was clear as day that the boy was totally beaten.

The man's face cringed with something akin to disgust. He slowly said, "I must say I'm disappointed."

Luffy hadn't gather enough energy to say anything in return.

The man spoke again, "Here I thought you were exceptionally strong after beating up the entire group of scroundrels that I invited to join my crew. I thought you might worth it, Ace. How pitiful of you."

Luffy wasn't able to comprehend what the man actually meant, but when his brother's name was mentioned, he forced himself to say out the words. "What do yo want with Ace?" he managed, albeit hardly.

The captain quirked an eyebrow. Something was glaringly wrong in the boy's question. Not willing to let his suspicion slide, he asked, "Tell me, boy. Are you Ace or not?"

Luffy replied with hoarse voice, "Ace... he's my big brother."

Upon the revelation, the captain's face scrunched up in fury. He turned around to see his two underlings, who had been listening as well, was bowing flat to the floor, begging for their lives. He lifted his free hand to massage his temple.

"How useless," he ground his teeth. "Get up!" he ordered, not bothering to cover his resentment.

The two hurriedly got up on their feet. The captain threw Luffy's limp body to them, which they caught on mostly fast reflex, before he said, "Tie him down. I'll wait you outside in less than five minutes. Understand?"

"Yes, captain!"

Less than three minutes after that, the two guys were standing in front of the captain, with the currently unconscious boy tied to a rope near their feet. The other crew were standing around them, glancing sympathetically to their way. They feared for whatever might happen to their lives, but when the captain gave his order, it wasn't what they expected. Instead of condemnation, they felt relief.

"Call the trafficker guys from the other day, quick," he commanded, openly showing his sulky mood at the moment.

Minutes later, they found themselves still alive and breathing just fine, standing not too far away from their fearsome captain, who was busy bidding the price of the straw hat boy with a group of human trafficker.

* * *

Michella kept on rowing the small boat in the middle of the sea. She had been doing the same thing for who-knows-how-long. She couldn't risk to rest her muscle when Luffy was currently in high danger. It was silly enough for her to chase something as big as a pirate ship with a mere boat, she could only wish that the pirate ship stopped once in a while and with her velocity she might have gotten sight of them. With the possibility, albeit small, she kept on rowing and rowing.

Her effort didn't betray her wish, as somewhere in the far distance, she caught sight of the pirate ship. She blinked several times to make sure the ship didn't disappear, and rowed faster at the immobile ship. It might be her only chance to get as close as possible, because there was the possibility of it wasn't being the ship that had kidnapped Luffy in the first place. She needed to check the situation quickly and quietly, and if it wasn't the right pirate ship, she needed to go immediately.

The closer she rowed to the pirate ship, the more she noticed the presence of another ship behind it. She couldn't make out most of the ship, but with the stillness and how close the two ships were, she assumed that the other ship couldn't be less dangerous than the one hoisting the skull flag.

When she presumed that her distance might be noticeable with the rowing sound, she sailed slower and rowed carefully. The darkness gave her the full advantage to get closer, so when her small boat was side by side with the bigger ship, no one was screaming at her presence. Fortunately, she found a freely dangling ladder at the side of the ship. Before she climbed into it, she checked the vicinity for the last time. After she made sure no one was around, she made her move quietly and steadily.

At the end of the ladder, she carefully examined the ship. The closest and the only visible group of men were crowding at the other opposite of the ship, the side that met the other unknown ship. She realized it wasn't as big as the pirate ship she was hopping onto, so she assumed it might be some kind of unfortunate merchant ship. But as soon as the thought came, she dismissed it immediately. The leisurely gathering pirate crew in one place was the only indication needed to confirm it.

However, Michella didn't see Luffy from her spot. She needed to check the place out. But just when she was halfway closer to the crowd, she noticed something. The man in suit who seemed to be in charge of talking with another guy was holding into something. But he was facing the other way, and he was holding it in front of him, making it hard for her to see the object. It was still too far from hearing range, but her intuition told her to stay still and wait for the scene to unfold.

It wasn't a long wait as they seemed to reach some agreement. But when the man in suit held out the object in his hand, Michella felt like she just lost the ability to breath. Right there, a distant away from her, was Luffy. Somehow Luffy was tied by a rope behind him, and he was unconscious. She was watching with gnawing dread when the man handed over the boy with his dear straw hat still strapped over his neck.

What made everything worse was the handful of money the other guy gave in return. She sucked in sharp intake, and even though she regained her breathing, she wasn't breathing properly. She felt suffocated. Her entire being shook uncontrollably, the reeling scene before her eyes reminded Michella of her own past.

Money in exchange of a living human.

She wanted to throw up so bad.

 _No! It's not the right time for this! Get yourself together, Michella!_ She mentally slapped herself, but it wasn't that easy with her physic. She had to bite the inside of her cheeks to reduce the trembling, and with the addition of gripping strongly to her pipe to the point that her knuckles went white, only then it stopped entirely. She had to regain normal breathing even after that.

By the time she could deem herself calm enough, she glanced upward, cursing inwardly. The other boat was leaving already. It went slowly, and it wasn't far just yet, so she thought that she still could make it.

She hopped over the railing into the main deck, charging right away to the group of the pirate crew. Her objective was only one, to get to Luffy no matter what and save him before it was too late. She didn't care when she went through lines of a pirate crew to get there, she didn't even have the chance to see the shocked expression on them as well as the loud shouting upon her presence.

She was close to the railing, and she was certain she could make it by jumping off the ship. The gap between the two ships was humanly impossible to jump over, but she still had her wings. She was convinced that she could save Luffy.

But just a few steps away from the railing, something destroyed her wish.

Someone, to be precise. She was pushed down to the floor by the back of her neck, and she could feel slender cold fingers were grasping around her. That person then lifted her up, making sure to see her front. He was the man in suit.

Michella felt breathing became harder, as the man's grip was practically throttling her. She tried to remove the grip with one hand, but it was futile. She gripped on her pipe strongly with the other hand, not willing to let it go for a second.

The man in suit then faced the crew and said, "Why is this insect here? Can someone tell me how?" He said it slowly, but he gave away menacing aura that most of his crew was backing off from him immediately.

"Scram and do something useful, stupid heads!" he loudly ordered. The movement of the crew was sudden and in rush.

A minute or two after that, someone reported to him that they found a small boat by the ship. The man wasted no time to see it himself, the spot right where Michella had left it before.

However the said girl was still in the man's tight grip. She was close to pass out, but she strongly refused to. She needed to get to Luffy. Luffy needed her at the moment. She had to get out of the pirate's lair quickly.

The man held her high in front of his face, speaking lowly, "Is that your boat, little girl?"

Michella swung her pipe right into the man's skull. It was entirely intentional. And it wasn't like she could answer the man, being strangled or not.

Clearly, she made him pissed. She could feel the grip on her neck tightened, as the man brought her closer to his face.

"Listen, young lady. You're messing with the wrong pirate captain here. I'm having a bad day today, and I'm not in the mood of humoring some unexpected guest. So pardon me, if I tend to be cruel today. Say goodbye to the blue sky, say hello to the blue sea."

That was the last thing she heard, before she was thrown overboard, out into the open gaping sea. She didn't have the time to spread her last chance to stay midair, as her whole body was engulfed by the cold sea water.

The moment she dreaded the most.

She was going to die.

* * *

 **Bello~**

 **It's been three weeks since TO last update, I'm sorry for the random pattern of publishing new chapter. Honestly, I don't think I can keep up the two-weeks-one-update pattern, so please bear with me if I go for random updates. But I promise, I swear, that I won't ever abandon my stories. I have everything in mind until the end, even the continuation if possible, of this story. I just need more time to write.**

 **Just like when I wrote this chapter, for example. I was writing most of the chapter the entire night, that I went to sleep after the sun had arisen. It's fine tho, cause I'm currently not in occupation. But it's been hard lately to write, since I'm having projects with my mom during the day, that and a slight writer's block. Sigh.**

 **Anyway, thanks as always for you people for sparing your time to read this little piece.**

 **Feel free to drop any comment~**

 **Dadah, fellas~**

 **05/27/2016**

 **-Mei Evelyn**


End file.
